Helsinki, January 22 –Finland has marked a slight improvement in domestic jobs registering a fall in unemployment rate in December despite a global slowdown in the job market, according to latest data
released Tuesday by the Finnish authorities.
The number of unemployed people declined to 180,000 in December 2012 from 192,000 in the corresponding month of the previous in the Nordic country.
Statistics Finland said that the unemployment rate was 6.9 per cent in the last month of the year compared to 7.4 per cent in the same month of the previous year.
The department, however, said that the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter was (October to December) was on an average 7 per cent which was 0.2 percentage points higher than that of the respective quarter of 2011.
International Labour Organisation reported Monday that the number of unemployed people has been on the rise across the globe with 4,000,000 people, mostly young, added in the list in 2012. A total of 197 million people are unemployed worldwide.
Finland’s unemployment rate is on an average 6.16 per cent since 1959. The country recorded the highest 19.9 per cent unemployment in May 1994 and the lowest 0.7 per cent in September 1961.
The unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. They are eligible for a basic allowance from the government in Finland.
