Finland Times

 

Young looking for a job Employment and Economic Development Office job search services on the website. File Photo - Lehtikuva.

The unemployment rate increased to 8.4 per cent in September 2015 from 8.2 per cent in the year before, according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey.

 

There were 225,000 unemployed persons in September. The number of unemployed persons was 7,000 higher than one year ago, the data show.

 

The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in September of the year before.

 

The rate of unemployment was 8.4 per cent in the third quarter (July to September), having been 7.5 per cent in the respective quarter of 2014.

 

In September 2015, the number of employed persons was 2,452,000, which was 5,000 higher than a year earlier.

 

There were 15,000 more employed men and 10,000 fewer employed women than in September 2014.

 

In September, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 68.8 per cent, which was 0.7 percentage points higher than one year before.

 

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2005/09–2015/09, persons aged 15–74. Source: Labour force survey 2015, September. Statistics Finland.

The employment rate for men rose by 1.4 percentage points to 69.8 per cent.

 

Women’s unemployment rate was almost unchanged and stood at 67.9 per cent as per the statistics.

 

In September, there were a total of 642,000 young people aged 15 to 24. Of them, 242,000 were employed and 53,000 were unemployed.  

 

In the third quarter of 2015, there were on average 2,481,000 employed persons. There were 6,000 fewer employed persons than in the corresponding period in 2014. The number of employed persons increased most in information and communication activities, but decreased most in wholesale and retail trade.

 

The number of hours worked by employed persons was around 0.6 per cent higher in the third quarter of 2015 than twelve months previously.

 

The average number of unemployed persons in the third quarter of 2015 was 226,000, which was 24,000 more than in the July to September period of 2014.

 

At the end of September 2015, there were altogether 337,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as unemployed job seekers at the employment and economic development offices.

 

The number of unemployed job seekers was 23,000 higher than in September 2014.

 

Changes in employment 2014/09 – 2015/09 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

 

	Year/Month		Change
	2014/09	2015/09	2014/09 - 2015/09
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Population total	4 097	4 102	0,1
Active population total	2 665	2 678	0,5
Employed	2 447	2 452	0,2
– employees	2 097	2 105	0,4
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers	350	347	–1,0
Unemployed	218	225	3,4
Inactive population	1 432	1 424	–0,5
– Persons in disguised unemployment	149	156	4,7
	Per cent, %		Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15 to 64	68,2	68,8	0,7
Unemployment rate	8,2	8,4	0,2
Activity rate	65,0	65,3	0,2
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column. The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

 

Changes in employment 2014/III – 2015/III according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

 

	Year/Quarter		Change
	2014/III	2015/III	2014/III - 2015/III
	1000 persons		Per cent (%)
Active population total	2 690	2 708	0,7
Employed persons total	2 487	2 481	–0,2
Unemployed total	203	226	11,7
– men	110	118	7,8
– women	93	108	16,4
Inactive population	1 406	1 393	–1,0
– Persons in disguised unemployment	141	149	5,6
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column. The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

 

Changes 2014/09 – 2015/09 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

 

	Year/Month		Change
	2014/09	2015/09	2014/09 – 2015/09
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 1)	315	337	7,3
– unemployed over a year	93	113	22,0
Services, total	128	118	–7,3
– employed	39	23	–40,8
– in labour market training, in training	28	25	–12,3
– engaged in work/training trials	11	12	11,2
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit	50	59	17,7
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices	38	38	–1,1
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

1) The law reform that entered into force at the beginning of 2013 and the change in the lay-off procedure on 1 July increase the number of unemployed job seekers somewhat.

Source: Labour force survey 2015, September. Statistics Finland.