Finland Times

 

File Photo – Lehtikuva.

The unemployment rate has increased to 8.3 per cent in October 2014, having been 7.4 per cent in October of the year before with the number of unemployed persons standing at 220,000, which was 26,000 higher than one year ago. 

 

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, there were 7,000 fewer employed persons than in October of the previous year. The number of persons in disguised unemployment in the inactive population was 33,000 higher than one year earlier. 

 

In October 2014, the number of employed persons was 2,419,000, which was 7,000 less than a year earlier (margin of error ±32,000). The number of employed persons decreased in the private sector and grew in the public sector compared with October 2013.

 

In October 2014, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.6 per cent, having been 68.1 per cent one year earlier. Men’s employment rate was 68.2 per cent and women’s 67.0 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 68.3 per cent. 

 

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, there were 220,000 unemployed in October 2014, i.e. 26,000 more than one year earlier (margin of error ±18,000). The number of unemployed men was 133,000 and that of women 87,000. 

 

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2004/10–2014/10, persons aged 15–74. Source: Labour force survey 2014, October. Statistics Finland.

At 8.3 per cent, the unemployment rate was 0.9 percentage points higher in October than one year earlier. Men’s unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent and women’s 6.9 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.9 per cent. 

 

In October, there were a total of 651,000 young people aged 15 to 24. Of them, 229,000 were employed and 53,000 were unemployed. Thus, the labour force of young people (employed and unemployed) stood at 283,000. 

 

In October, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 18.8 per cent, which was 2.3 percentage points higher than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 20.2 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 8.2 per cent.