Employment and unemployment in May 2000

- 71,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 68.1 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 11.9 per cent, 322,000 unemployed
- 37,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 71,000 more employed in May than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners was up by 74,000 on May 1999. The number of self-employed persons fell by 3,000. The number of wage-earners employed in continuous full-time jobs increased by 40,000. During May, 37,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 8,000 more than in May 1999.

In May, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 68.1 per cent, which is 1.8 percentage points higher than in last year's May. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 66.2 per cent in May. Of economic activities, employment increased most in financial intermediation and business services. Jobs increased most in relative terms in the Province of Eastern Finland and in terms of numbers in the Province of Southern Finland.

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Changes in the labour force 5/1999 - 5/2000, thousand
	May 2000	May 1999	CHANGE, % 5/99 - 5/00
Statistics Finland Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 377	2 306	3.1
- wage earners	2 051	1 977	3.7
Employment rate, %	68.1	66.3	1.8 ²
Unemployed ¹	322	354	-9.1
Labour force, total	2 699	2 660	1.5
Unemployment rate, %	11.9	13.3	-1.4 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 201	1 227	-2.1
- discouraged job seekers	36	44	-18.6
- other disguised unemployment	79	84	-6.0
Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	305	336	-9.0
- unemployed over a year	89	98	-9.1
Employed with subsidised measures	46	57	-19.6
In labour market training	34	40	-14.7
In trainee and job alternation places	16	15	2.6
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	37	29	28.4
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 322,000 unemployed in May and the rate of unemployment was 11.9 per cent. In May 1999, the number of unemployed was 354,000 and the rate of unemployment stood at 13.3 per cent. The rate of unemployment among persons aged 25 to 74 was 7.9 per cent, while it was 9.1 per cent in the same period last year. The rate of unemployment among young people aged 15 to 24 was 33.9 per cent, that is, 2.5 percentage points lower than in May last year. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 9.5 per cent, 20.9 per cent for young people and 8.3 per cent for persons aged 25 to 74. Of economic activities, unemployment decreased most in relative terms in the construction branch.

In spring, students seeking their way to the labour market always increase the unemployment figure issued by Statistics Finland. In May 2000 the total number of unemployed persons includes approximately 125,000 full-time students.

At the end of May, there were 305,000 persons registered, in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act and the Labour Exchange Office Regulations, as unemployed job seekers at the labour exchange offices. This is about 30,000 fewer than in May 1999. Unemployment went down in the areas of all employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 17,000 from last year's May and was 3.7 per cent of the labour force. There were 35,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number fell by 8,000 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 impact can be bigger than average in May due to students entering the labour market.

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 May 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 18,000 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/