A total of 245,800 unemployed job seekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of February; a decrease of 30,400 from the previous year. The number of unemployed job seekers was down by 5,600 from the previous month.
These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, which which show a decrease in the number of unemployed job seekers among the youngsters and those aged over 50.
The number of long-term unemployed —that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year— amounted to 64,700, down 21,800 on the previous year. The number of unemployed job seekers aged over 50 was 92,900, or 13,400 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.
Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 30,500, representing a decrease of 2,900 from February last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 63.1% of cases between January and February, which is 5.8 percentage points less than the year before.
Increase in new vacancies
The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during February totalled 77,800, or 8,700 more than in February the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in February amounted to 161,400, which was 23,000 more than a year ago.
At the end of February, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 125,900, down 300 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.
At the end of February, the number of people laid off was 22,000 in the whole country, which was 3,000 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 16,000, representing a decrease of 900 from February the year before.
Unemployment rate 7.4%, says Statistics Finland
According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in February the number of people in employment was up 34,000 on the previous year. The employment rate was 70.7%, which was 0.9 percentage points higher than in February the year before.
According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 200,000, which is 33,000 fewer than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 7.4%, or 1.2 percentage points lower than the previous year.
Key differences between both statistics
The Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment 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.
In the Ministry’s Employment Service Statistics, people that are not in an employment relationship or employed in business are listed as unemployed. Persons fully laid-off but not full-time students are also categorised as unemployed in the Employment Service Statistics.
The Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland has a stricter definition for being unemployed: a person is unemployed if he or she has actively sought employment during the preceding four weeks and is available for work over the coming two weeks. The figures of the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland are internationally comparable and thus they are the official Finnish unemployment statistics.
