Finland has 206,000 unemployed jobseekers more than a year ago

The coronavirus crisis continues to wreak havoc on the Finnish job market.

A total of 432,700 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of May. This was 206,200 more than a year earlier, according to the latest data from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. These figures include the people fully laid off.

In the midst of this massive destruction of jobs, there is a data that suggests that the worst may already be left behind: the number of unemployed jobseekers in May was down by 400 from the previous month. 

Layoffs

At the end of May, the number of people laid off was 181,400 in the whole country, which was 167,500 more than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 158,100, representing an increase of 149,800 from May the year before.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for more than a year — amounted to 69,800, up 7,400 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 141,600, representing an increase of 56,600 on the year before.

Unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 numbered 56,400, representing an increase of 27,700 from May last year.

Decrease in number of vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during May totalled 45,100, or 20,900 fewer than in May the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in May amounted to 96,900, which was 32,200 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of May, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 105,700, down 18,100 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Unemployment rate 10.6%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in May the number of people in employment was 96,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 70.4%, which was 2.7 percentage points lower than in May the year before.

The unemployment total was 295,000, which is 46,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 10.6%, or 1.8 percentage points higher than the previous year.

This information is based on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland. The Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry are compiled on the basis of the information in the Employment and Economic Development Offices’ customer register, while the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland is based on sampling.