PRESS RELEASE

2 May 2022

250,700 unemployed jobseekers in March

The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 80,800. The number of new vacancies reported in March totalled 126,200. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies amounted to 259,100, which is 96,600 more than a year ago.

At the end of March, a total of 250,700 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 80,800 fewer than a year earlier and 14,900 fewer than in the previous month.

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 135,000, or 27,100 fewer than in March a year ago, were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. The number of unemployed jobseekers also includes those fully laid off. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

At the end of March, the number of people laid off was 28,600 in the whole country, which was 50,900 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 21,000, representing a decrease of 41,800 from March the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 5,900 from February.

100,500 unemployed in the long term

The number of long-term unemployed — i.e. those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 100,500, down 3,500 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 98,800, or 21,200 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 26,300, representing a decrease of 14,300 from March last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 60.2 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and March. This is 5.3 percentage points more than the year before.

Increase in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported during March totalled 126,200, or 48,500 more than in March the previous year. The total number of unfilled vacancies amounted to 259,100 in March, which was 96,600 more than a year ago.

At the end of March, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 114,200, down 2,900 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: The trend of the unemployment rate 6.6%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in March the number of people in employment was 77,000 more than on the previous year. The trend of the employment rate was 73.7%, which was 2.6 percentage points higher than in March the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 192,000, which is 31,000 less than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 6.6%, or 1.4 percentage points lower than the previous year.

Key differences between Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey

This information is based on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland. The Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry 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 employment service statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment persons that are not in 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 of 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.

Further information on the differences between the statistics: https://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2019-09-13_men_001_en.html

Inquiries:
Petri Syvänen, Ministerial adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 8050.

Links:

Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment: https://www.temtyollisyyskatsaus.fi/graph/tkat/tkat.aspx?lang=en

Key definitions of the Employment Service Statistics

https://tem.fi/en/release-dates-of-statistics-and-description-and-quality-description

More detailed information on the Employment Service Statistics is available in the StatFin database: https://statfin.stat.fi/PxWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/

Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey: https://www.stat.fi/en/statistics/tyti