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Published: 24 April 2018

Employment increased in March from one year ago

Corrected on 24 April 2018. The corrected number is indicated in red.

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 37,000 higher than one year ago. The number of unemployed persons in March 2018 was 240,000, which was 20,000 lower than one year ago. The unemployment rate declined by 0.8 percentage points to 8.8 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in March. The unemployment rate in first quarter of 2018 was 8.8 per cent, which was 0.6 percentage points lower than in the respective period of 2017.

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2008/03–2018/03, persons aged 15–74

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2008/03–2018/03, persons aged 15–74

Unemployment and employment vary quite considerably by month and the change from the observation of the previous month mainly describes the seasonal aspect rather than the trend in development. Thus the latest statistical data are compared to the corresponding period of the year before. By contrast, the figures of the trend series that are adjusted for seasonal and random variation are mutually comparable and phenomena associated with long-term development and cyclical changes are thus more easily observable from the trend of the time series.

The trend usually changes somewhat when the data of the following month are included in the time series. This preliminary nature of trend figures should be taken into account when making conclusions. The figures reported in this release are not adjusted for seasonal variation unless separately mentioned that they concern the trend. You can read more about the trend here (only in Finnish).

In March 2018, the number of employed persons was 2,476,000 (margin of error ±32,000), which was 37,000 more than a year earlier. There were 30,000 more employed men and 7,000 more employed women than in March 2017.

In March, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.0 per cent, having been 68.8 per cent one year earlier. From last year’s March, men’s employment rate rose by 1.5 percentage points to 70.6 per cent and women’s by 0.8 percentage points to 69.3 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 71.1 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 240,000 (margin of error ±19,000) unemployed in March 2018, i.e. 20,000 fewer than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 130,000 and that of women 110,000.

At 8.8 per cent, the unemployment rate was 0.8 percentage points lower in March than one year earlier. The unemployment rate for men decreased by 1.5 percentage points to 9.2 per cent, and that of women by 0.1 percentage points to 8.4 per cent year-on-year. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent.

In March, there were a total of 622,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 232,000 were employed and 74,000 unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 306,000. In March, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 24.1 per cent, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 18.6 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 11.8 per cent.

There were 1,405,000 persons in the inactive population in March 2018, which was 5,000 fewer than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 134,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 9,000 more than in March 2017.

Changes in employment 2017/03 – 2018/03 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2017/03 2018/03 2017/03 - 2018/03
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 109 4 122 0,3
Active population total 2 699 2 716 0,6
Employed 2 439 2 476 1,5
– employees 2 119 2 151 1,5
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 320 325 1,6
Unemployed 260 240 –7,7
Inactive population 1 410 1 405 –0,3
– Persons in disguised unemployment 125 134 7,0
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 68,8 70,0 1,1
Unemployment rate 9,6 8,8 –0,8
Activity rate 65,7 65,9 0,2
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey data for the first quarter of 2018

In the first quarter of 2018, the average number of employed persons was 2,469,000, or 63,000 higher than in the corresponding quarter of 2017. The number of employed persons increased most in human health and social work activities (Q) and in manufacturing (C).

The number of hours worked by employed persons was 0.4 per cent lower in the first quarter of 2018 than twelve months previously.

The average number of unemployed persons in the first quarter of 2018 was 237,000, which was 11,000 lower than in the January to March period of 2017. The unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2018 was 8.8 per cent, which was 0.6 percentage points lower than in the respective period of 2017.

In the first quarter of 2018, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,418,000, which was 36,000 fewer than a year earlier. Of the inactive population, 140,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 8,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2017.

Changes in employment 2017I – 2018/I according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Quarter Change
2017/I 2018/I 2017/I - 2018/I
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Active population total 2 655 2 706 1,9
Employed persons total 2 407 2 469 2,6
Unemployed total 248 237 –4,4
– men 136 122 –10,5
– women 112 115 3,0
Inactive population 1 454 1 418 –2,5
– Persons in disguised unemployment 149 140 –5,6
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

At the end of March 2018, there were altogether 264,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as job seekers at the employment and economic development offices . The number of unemployed job seekers was 53,000 lower than in March 2017.

Unemployment fell in March from the corresponding period in 2017 in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in Satakunta (-22%), Pirkanmaa (-22%) and Ostrobothnia (-20%). At the end of March, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 15,000, which was 5,000 fewer than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 132,000 at the end of March, which was 5,000 more than in March of the year before. Altogether, 4.9 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 32,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 6,000 lower than in last year’s March. During this March, 64,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 4,000 more than in March 2017.

Changes 2017/03–2018/03 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2017/03 2018/03 2017/03 - 2018/03
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 317 264 –16,7
– unemployed over a year 112 83 –26,2
Services, total 127 132 4,3
– employed 23 25 11,8
– in labour market training, in training 24 23 –3,9
– engaged in work/training trials 13 13 3,1
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 67 71 4,9
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 60 64 6,6
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

Contact information for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment:
Petri Syvänen tel. +358 29 504 8050, http://www.temtyollisyyskatsaus.fi/graph/tkat/tkat.aspx?lang=en#

Links

Labour Force Survey tables in databases

About seasonally adjusted trend

The accuracy of figures and the margins of error are explained in the quality description of the Labour Force Survey .

Comparison between the employment statistics of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU can be found on Eurostat's home page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Job vacancy survey

Latest data on open job vacancies published by the EU can be found on Eurostat's home page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat


Source: Labour force survey 2018, March. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Pertti Taskinen 029 551 2690, Henri Lukkarinen 029 551 3704, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (637.3 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

Appendix tables

Figures
Quality descriptions

Updated 24.4.2018

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. March 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 17.4.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2018/03/tyti_2018_03_2018-04-24_tie_001_en.html