The ministry predicted that the employment rate will fall this year to 68.1 per cent and the unemployment rate will rise to 9.5 per cent.
“Unemployment rates have risen in the spring forecast, because growth in service sector employment has declined,” said the ministry in a media release.
The ministry raised its forecast for the growth in the actual number of the long-term unemployed and unemployed job seekers.
This year, the number of long-term unemployed is forecast at about 110,000, and at around 130,000 next year. In the spring of 2015, the figures were 106,000 and 119,000 respectively.
The number of unemployed job seekers this year will average 355,000 and 370,000 next year. This spring they were estimated to be slightly less than 350,000.
