Press releases 2006
19 Dec 2006
Employment and unemployment in November 2006
- Number of employed persons 54,000 higher than one year before - Employment rate 68.8 per cent - Number of unemployed 32,000 lower than one year ago - Unemployment rate 6.7 per cent, 175,000 unemployed - 35,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In January to November 2006, average number of employed 41,000 higher than during the same period of 2005
13 Dec 2006
In the light and shade of statistics
If all events that took place in Finland in 2005 are divided evenly between the days of the year, this is what happened during just one day...
21 Nov 2006
Employment and unemployment in October 2006
- Number of employed persons nearly the same as one year before - Employment rate 67.8 per cent - Unemployment rate 7.2 per cent, 187,000 unemployed - 35,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In January to October 2006, average number of employed 40,000 higher than during the same period of 2005
24 Oct 2006
Employment and unemployment in September 2006
- Number of employed persons 38,000 higher than one year before - Employment rate 68.7 per cent - Unemployment rate 6.8 per cent, 179,000 unemployed - 36,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In January to September 2006, average number of employed 44,000 higher than during the same period of 2005
27 Sep 2006
The more social capital, the better perceived health
The more social capital, or participation, trust and social support, people have, the better they perceive their health. Those who have taken part in social activities consider their health better than non-participants do. Over 70 per cent of those Finns that take much part in social activities or have great trust in people perceived their health as good. The data appear from Statistics Finland's publication Social Capital in Finland, where the articles for the first time bring together statistical information concerning social capital.
19 Sep 2006
Employment and unemployment in August 2006
- Number of employed persons 69,000 higher than one year before - Rate of employment 70.5 per cent - Unemployment rate 6.9 per cent, 185,000 unemployed - 41,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In January to August 2006, average number of employed 44,000 higher than during the same period of 2005
14 Sep 2006
Government environmental expenditure will increase next year
In the Finnish government budget proposal for 2007 EUR 40 million more is earmarked for environmental protection expenditure than in this year's budget. The increase is completely due to environmental subsidies for agriculture, which will grow from EUR 265 million to EUR 311 million. Growth in environmental subsidies for agriculture is attributable to transfers between budget sub-items, and thus subsidies received by farmers will not increase in practice. The data appear from the review Finland's Natural Resources and the Environmentpublished by the Ministry of the Environment and Statistics Finland.
5 Sep 2006
Information technology has become part of Finns' everyday life
During the past ten years, the majority of Finns have adopted the new information and communications technology and at the same time the use of new tools has become part of everyday life. In 1996, one in four households had a PC, but today the respective proportion is two in three. At that time 7 per cent of households had Internet access, but in 2005 as many as 58 per cent. The data appear from Statistics Finland's report From Citizen to eCitizen. Results from statistical surveys about Finns' use of ICT in 1996-2005.
22 Aug 2006
Employment and unemployment in July 2006
- Number of employed persons 46,000 higher than one year before - Rate of employment 71.8 per cent - Number of unemployed 18,000 lower than one year ago - Rate of unemployment 6.6 per cent, 179,000 unemployed - 25,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In January to July 2006, the average number of employed persons 41,000 higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year
21 Aug 2006
International comparisons of wealth
Preliminary international results from the Luxembourg Wealth Study will be presented on 21 August in the IARIW Conference arranged in Joensuu. The objective of the study has been to harmonise measurement of wealth in different countries and improve international comparability. This has become possible thanks to the new study database.
10 Aug 2006
International income and wealth researchers meet in Finland
The world's leading researchers of national income and income distribution will gather in Joensuu, Finland, for the 29th General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth (IARIW) on 20-26 August 2006. The venue of the Conference, which will be attended by nearly 300 experts in the field from around 40 countries, will be the University of Joensuu. Statistics Finland is responsible for the practical arrangements of the Conference.
3 Aug 2006
New information on the time use of teaching staff at universities and polytechnics
In the academic year 2004-2005, teaching and research staff at universities spent nearly 2,000 working hours on tasks related to their office or post. At polytechnics the respective number of hours just exceeded 1,700. The number of working hours showed clear variation by occupational group at universities but there was less variation in this at polytechnics. At universities teaching staff spent 40 per cent and at polytechnics 10 per cent of their working hours on research. At universities teaching staff managed 15 per cent and at polytechnics 12 per cent of their weekly job tasks by e-mail. These data derive from an extensive survey of time use among tertiary teaching and research staff which Statistics Finland conducted in the academic year 2004-2005.
25 Jul 2006
Employment and unemployment in June 2006
- Number of employed persons 38,000 higher than one year before - Rate of employment 72.1 per cent - Number of unemployed 14,000 lower than one year ago - Rate of unemployment 8.1 per cent, 225,000 unemployed - 33,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In January to June 2006, the average number of employed persons 40,000 higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year
10 Jul 2006
More households have a broadband connection in Finland than on the average in the EU
In February 2006, 62 per cent of households in Finland were connected to the Internet. In four cases out of five the connection was broadband. There were over 1.2 million broadband connections to households. According to the data collected in 2005, more households had broadband access in Finland than in the EU on the average. The countries with the largest numbers of households with broadband access were Iceland, the Netherlands and Denmark. By contrast, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Ireland were far behind the EU target of having all households connected to the Internet via broadband.
5 Jul 2006
Two cars in three are low emission vehicles
At the end of last year, the total number of automobiles in Finland was 2.8 million, of which 2.4 million were passenger cars. Vehicles equipped with catalytic converters and other low emission vehicles made up 67 per cent of all automobiles and 72 per cent of passenger cars. Although the stock of automobiles has been renewing slowly, the number of vehicles equipped with catalytic converters has increased manyfold since the beginning of the 1990s. The average age of automobiles in Finland is about 10 years. These data derive from Statistics Finland's publication Environment Statistics 2006released today.
20 Jun 2006
Employment and unemployment in May 2006
- Number of employed persons 23,000 higher than one year ago - Employment rate 68.7 per cent - Number of unemployed nearly the same as one year ago - Rate of unemployment 10.1 per cent, 275,000 unemployed - 44,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - 40,000 more employed in the January to May period of 2006 than in the corresponding period of the year before
2 Jun 2006
New information about changes in working life
The expectations from supervisory work have grown and diversified, and at the same time organisational structures have been radically changed - how are supervisors coping? Why have problems related to coping and job satisfaction increased among women, especially those in upper-level salaried positions, more than among other employees? How do new ways of working flexible hours and changes in information work show up in working life? Does gender influence retirement plans? How does ageing influence commitment to work? These are among the questions relating to changes in working life and working conditions that are discussed in Statistics Finland's new publication Kaikilla mausteilla. Artikkeleita työolotutkimuksesta (With full trimmings. Articles based on findings of the Quality of Work Life Survey).
23 May 2006
Employment and unemployment in April 2006
- Number of employed persons 47,000 higher than one year before - Rate of employment 67.5 per cent - Number of unemployed 35,000 lower than one year ago - Rate of unemployment 8.6 per cent, 225,000 unemployed - 36,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In January to April 2006, the average number of employed persons 45,000 higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year
25 Apr 2006
Employment and unemployment in March 2006
- Number of employed persons 30,000 higher than one year ago - Employment rate 67.6 per cent - Rate of unemployment 8,1 per cent, 211,000 unemployed - 50,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - 44,000 more employed in the first quarter of 2006 than one year earlier
31 Mar 2006
Methodological and time series reform of national accounts causes level corrections to time series
The calculation methods of national accounts and the time series data of annual national accounts for the years 1975-2004 have been changed. In particular, changes have occurred in the calculation methods of the volume development of gross domestic product and its sub-components. At the same time, other revisions were made to time series. The changes are mainly due to the harmonisation work of national accounts carried out in the EU. Because of the changes the national accounts data for 2005 released earlier on 1 March 2006 are not in all respects comparable with the data published now.
21 Mar 2006
Employment and unemployment in February 2006
- Number of employed persons 47,000 higher than one year ago - Employment rate 67.5 per cent - Number of unemployed 18,000 lower than one year ago - Rate of unemployment 8,4 per cent, 219,000 unemployed - 52,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices
1 Mar 2006
Gross domestic product grew by 2.1 per cent last year
According to Statistics Finland's preliminary data, the volume of Finland's GDP grew by 2.1 per cent in 2005. Gross domestic product, or the combined value added of the goods and services produced, amounted to EUR 155 billion last year.
21 Feb 2006
Employment and unemployment in January 2006
- Number of employed persons 54,000 higher than one year before - Employment rate 66.6 per cent - Number of unemployed 23,000 lower than one year ago - Rate of unemployment 8.7 per cent, 226,000 unemployed - 48,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices
17 Feb 2006
Statistics Finland revised the Consumer Price Index
Statistics Finland's Consumer Price Index has been revised. The weight structure of the index has been changed and the commodity basket updated. The base year of the new Consumer Price Index is 2005.
30 Jan 2006
Tarja Halonen successful in urban municipalities
The election victory of Tarja Halonen, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, in the second round of the Presidential election was based on her success in urban municipalities, where she received 8.2 percentage points more votes than Sauli Niinistö, the candidate of the National Coalition Party. Exceptions to this were the urban municipalities of the constituency of Uusimaa, where Niinistö gained almost equally much. Looking at the whole country, Halonen lost to Niinistö by 0.6 percentage points in semi-urban municipalities and by 8 percentage points in rural municipalities.
24 Jan 2006
Employment and unemployment in December 2005
- Number of employed persons 63,000 higher than one year before - Employment rate 67.8 per cent - Number of unemployed almost unchanged - Rate of unemployment 7.6 per cent, 198,000 unemployed - 26,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices - In 2005, the average number of employed persons 36,000 higher than in 2004 - Unemployment rate 8.4 per cent in 2005
16 Jan 2006
Support for Tarja Halonen in the Presidential election higher than that for the Left in the Parliamentary elections 2003
Tarja Halonen, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, received 11.9 percentage points more votes in the first round of the Presidential election than the combined result was for the Social Democratic Party and the Left Alliance in the Parliamentary elections 2003. Sauli Niinistö, the candidate of the National Coalition Party, won by 5.5 percentage points compared with the Parliamentary elections, and Matti Vanhanen of the Centre Party of Finland lost by 6.1 percentage points. Both Halonen and Niinistö seem to have received new supporters from areas where the support for their backing parties was low in the Parliamentary elections. Correspondingly, Vanhanen lost votes in areas where the support for the Centre Party was high in the Parliamentary elections.