Employment and unemployment in April 2000

- 23,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 65.4 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 11.0 per cent, 283,000 unemployed
- 26,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 23,000 more employed in April than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners was up by 21,000 on April 1999. The number of self-employed persons grew by 2,000. The number of wage-earners employed in continuous full-time jobs increased by 26,000. During April, 26,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 2,000 less than in April 1999.

In April, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 65.4 per cent, which is 0.5 percentage points higher than in last year's April. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 66.2 per cent in April. Of economic activities, employment grew most in human health activities and business services. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Eastern Finland and Oulu.

The growth in employment was exceptionally strong at the beginning of last year and especially in April 1999. The high reference figures are reflected as slower growth this year.

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Changes in the labour force 4/1999 - 4/2000, thousand
	April 2000	April 1999	CHANGE, % 4/99 - 4/00
Statistics Finland Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 280	2 257	1.0
- wage earners	1 968	1 947	1.1
Employment rate, %	65.4	64.9	0.5 ²
Unemployed ¹	283	292	-3.1
Labour force, total	2 562	2 549	0.5
Unemployment rate, %	11.0	11.5	-0.5 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 336	1 339	-0.2
- discouraged job seekers	35	36	-3.0
- other disguised unemployment	59	76	-22.4
Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	321	342	-6.3
- unemployed over a year	88	99	-11.0
Employed with subsidised measures	44	55	-20.0
In labour market training	39	45	-13.2
In trainee and job alternation places	16	16	1.7
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	26	27	-6.9
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 283,000 unemployed in April and the rate of unemployment was 11.0 per cent. In April 1999, the number of unemployed was 292,000 and the rate of unemployment stood at 11.5 per cent. The unemployment rate among persons aged 25 to 74 was 8.4 per cent. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 29.6 per cent, that is, 1.6 percentage points lower than in April last year. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 10.2 per cent, 22.6 for young people and 8.6 per cent for persons aged over 25.

In April there were 6,000 fewer full-time students among young unemployed persons than in last year's April. The high unemployment rates earlier this year in February and March appear to be caused by young people entering the labour market earlier than before this spring, but several of them have not found a job yet.

At the end of April, there were 321,000 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 21,000 fewer than in April 1999. The number of unemployed job seekers declined in the areas of all employment and economic development centres, except in Kainuu. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 17,000 from last year's April and was 4.0 per cent of the labour force. There were 36,000 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. 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. Due to statistical differences, 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 April unemployment figures of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Labour was smaller than a year earlier.

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 17,000 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, Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517; 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/