The data show that Finland's economy has abandoned the falling trend that started at the beginning of the year and that the coronavirus crisis worsened in the second quarter.
Finland came out of the recession in the third quarter, but the gross domestic product (GDP) is still down compared to a year ago and key aspects such as the production of the national economy and employment remain negative.
In the absence of knowing the national account figures for the third quarter, Statistics Finland's flash estimate shows that seasonally adjusted GDP is estimated to have grown by around 2.6% from the previous quarter.
Source: Statistics Finland.
But according to the series adjusted for working days, GDP was still 4% lower than in the corresponding quarter of the year before. In addition, the number of people employed is estimated to have decreased by around 2% from one year ago.
Adjusted for working days, the number of hours worked has decreased by around 0.4% from the corresponding quarter of 2019.
Output fell in September
Adjusted for working days, output of the national economy fell by 3.2% in September from one year back. And monthly figures show that the decline did not bottom out in September: Seasonally adjusted output also fell by 0.8% from the month before.
According to revised data, working-day adjusted output decreased in August 2020 by 3.2% (was -3.3) from August 2019.
Working day adjusted primary production (agriculture, hunting, forestry) grew by around 1%. Secondary production (manufacturing and construction) decreased by about 6% and services (trade, hotel and restaurant, transport, public services, business activities...) by around 2% from September 2019.
