By the end of September, 226,000 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices. This was 6,000 fewer than a year earlier and 6,600 less from the previous month, according to the latest Employment bulletin published by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
The employment evolution was positive even for the long-term unemployed -those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year- amounting to 62,600, that is, 7,800 less than the previous year. The number of unemployed job seekers aged over 50 years old also dropped to 86,200, this was 2,300 fewer than in September 2018.
The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 totaled 27,900, representing a decrease of 1,200 from September last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 67.1% of cases between January and September, which is 1.4 percentage points less than the year before.
Vacancies and layoffs
The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during September totaled 65,400, or 14,900 more than in September the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in September amounted to 121,500, which was 21,000 more than a year ago.
At the end of September, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 120,300, down 6,300 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.
The layoffs figures are the only that suggest that not everything is going well in the Finnish labor market. The number of people laid off was 13,600 in the whole country; a year-on-year increase of 1,000. The number of people fully laid off totaled 8,300, representing an increase of 1,700 from September the year before.
Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 5.9%
According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in September the number of people in employment was 40,000 more than on the previous year. The employment rate was 72.7%, which was 1.3 percentage points higher than in September the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 161,000, which is 9,000 fewer than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 5.9%, or 0.4 percentage points lower than the previous year.
Source: Statistics Finland.
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.
