Employment and unemployment in February 2000

- 21,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 64.2 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 11.3 per cent, 284,000 unemployed
- 26,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 21,000 more employed in February than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners was up by 19,000 on February 1999. The number of self-employed persons also went up slightly. The number of wage-earners employed in continuous full-time jobs increased by 16,000 and that of persons in part-time employment by 10,000, whereas the number of persons with fixed-term jobs fell by 26,000. During February, 26,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 3,000 more than in February 1999.

In February, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 64.2 per cent, which is 0.2 percentage points higher than in last year's February. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 66.2 per cent in February. Of economic activities, jobs increased most in activities auxiliary to financial intermediation, business services, trade and construction. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Southern and Western Finland.

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Changes in the labour force 2/1999 - 2/2000, thousand
	February 2000	February 1999	CHANGE, % 2/99 - 2/00
Statistics Finland Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 240	2 219	0.9
- wage earners	1 921	1 902	1.0
Employment rate, %	64.2	64.0	0.2 ²
Unemployed ¹	284	267	6.3
Labour force, total	2 524	2 487	1.5
Unemployment rate, %	11.3	10.7	0.6 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 373	1 399	-1.9
- discouraged job seekers	41	39	5.7
- other disguised unemployment	76	87	-12.7
Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	346	367	-5.9
- unemployed over a year	92	103	-10.1
Employed with subsidised measures	43	54	-20.1
In labour market training	37	41	-8.5
In trainee and job alternation places	16	16	0.8
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	26	23	12.2
Unrounded figures are used in the CHANGE column ¹ Based on the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)			² percentage points

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 284,000 unemployed in February and the rate of unemployment was 11.3 per cent. In February 1999, the number of unemployed was 267,000 and the rate of unemployment stood at 10.7 per cent. The unemployment rate among persons aged 25 to 74 remained at 9.5 per cent. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 24.6 per cent, that is, 3.7 percentage points higher than in February last year. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 10.5 per cent, 23.1 for young people and 8.4 per cent for persons aged 25 to 74.

The growth in unemployment from last year's February was caused by increased youth unemployment. The number of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 went up by 17,000. Compared to the previous year, 27,000 more young people entered the labour market, of whom 10,000 were employed and 17,000 could not get a job yet. Now 14,000 more young unemployed persons than last year were full-time students. Young full-time students seek employment in exceptionally large numbers evidently because of the good economic situation and higher demand for labour force.

At the end of February, there were 346,000 persons registered, in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act and the Labour Exchange Office Regulations, as job seekers at the labour exchange offices. This is about 22,000 fewer than in February 1999. The number of unemployed job seekers declined in the areas of all employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 14,000 from last year's February and was 4.0 per cent of the labour force. There were 41,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number fell by 4,000 from the previous year.

Differences between the Labour Force Survey and the Labour Exchange Statistics

The employment situation is monitored monthly both with the sample-based Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland and with the register-based Labour Exchange Statistics of the Ministry of Labour. The Labour Exchange Statistics describe the situation on the last weekday of the month. Since January 2000, data for the Labour Force Survey have been collected for every week of the month, whereas previously they were only collected for the week containing the 15^th day of the month. According to analyses made the impact of the change on the results is negligible on the annual level, but it may vary monthly.

The Labour Force Survey follows the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the practices required by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. According to them, a person is classified as unemployed if he or she is aged 15 or over, does not have a job, has actively sought employment in the past four weeks and would be available for work within two weeks. The Labour Exchange Statistics are based on legislation and administrative regulations.

The Labour Force Survey and the Labour Exchange Statistics apply two basically different statistical criteria to how actively a person seeks work and makes him/herself available on the labour market. For this reason, the number of unemployed job seekers does not agree with the number of unemployed calculated in accordance with the ILO recommendations. The difference between the February unemployment figures of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Labour was smaller than a year earlier.

Those unemployed persons who have neither contacted a labour exchange office for over four weeks, nor actively sought work in any other way either, are generally classified in the Labour Force Survey as belonging to disguised unemployment. Full-time students can be recorded as unemployed in the Labour Force Survey if they meet the ILO recommendations, whereas in the Labour Exchange Statistics they are not accepted as being unemployed during term time.

Since the Labour Force Survey is a sample survey, its data allow for random variation. In respect of the unemployment rate, for example, the 95 per cent confidence interval is plus minus 0.6 percentage points. The confidence interval for the number of unemployed is approximately plus minus 16,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Tapio Oksanen +358 9 1734 3228, Mr Hannu Siitonen +358 9 1734 3225, Ms Annukka Ruuhela +358 9 1734 3524; e-mail tyovoima.tilastokeskus@stat.fi, Internet http://www.stat.fi/tk/el/tyoll.html
Ministry of Labour: Mr Oiva Lönnberg +358 9 1856 8048, e-mail oiva.lonnberg@mol.fi; Internet http://www.mol.fi/katsaukset/
Latest seasonally adjusted unemployment figures published by the EU at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/