25 July, 2000
Employment and unemployment in June 2000
- 11,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 70.0 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 10.3 per cent, 279,000 unemployed
- 26,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices
According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 11,000 more employed in June than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners was up by 13,000 on June 1999. The number of self-employed persons fell by 4,000. The number of wage-earners employed in fixed- term jobs declined by 18,000, while that of part-time workers remained unchanged from the year before. During June, 26,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 2,000 more than in June 1999.
In June, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.0 per cent, which is almost the same as in last year's June. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 66.1 per cent in June. Of economic activities, employment grew most in transport and manufacturing. Employment decreased in agriculture and forestry and in trade. Jobs increased most in the Provinces of Southern Finland, Eastern Finland and Oulu.
>
|
Changes in the labour force 6/1999 - 6/2000, thousand |
|||
|
June 2000 |
June 1999 |
CHANGE, % |
|
|
Statistics Finland Labour Force Survey: |
|||
|
Employed, total |
2 446 |
2 435 |
0.4 |
|
- wage earners |
2 123 |
2 110 |
0.6 |
|
Employment rate, % |
70.0 |
70.1 |
-0.1 2 |
|
Unemployed 1 |
279 |
280 |
-0.3 |
|
Labour force, total |
2 725 |
2 716 |
0.4 |
|
Unemployment rate, % |
10.3 |
10.3 |
0.0 2 |
|
Economically inactive, total |
1 176 |
1 174 |
0.2 |
|
- discouraged job seekers |
54 |
52 |
3.3 |
|
- other disguised unemployment |
69 |
70 |
-0.6 |
|
Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange Statistics: |
|||
|
Unemployed job seekers |
326 |
353 |
-7.6 |
|
- unemployed over a year |
90 |
99 |
-9.5 |
|
Employed with subsidised measures |
43 |
54 |
-19.8 |
|
In labour market training |
26 |
32 |
-19.4 |
|
In trainee and job alternation places |
14 |
15 |
-7.0 |
|
New vacancies in labour exchange offices |
26 |
24 |
7.4 |
|
Unrounded figures are used in the CHANGE column |
2 percentage points |
||
According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 279,000 unemployed in June and the rate of unemployment was 10.3 per cent. In June 1999, the number of unemployed was 280,000 and the rate of unemployment stood at 10.3 per cent. The unemployment rate among persons aged 25 to 74 was 7.7 per cent, while it was 8.3 per cent during the same period last year. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 22.4 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent, 22.2 per cent for young people and 8.0 per cent for persons aged 25 to 74. Of economic activities, unemployment decreased relatively most in financial intermediation and business services.
At the end of June, there were 326,000 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 27,000 fewer than in June 1999. Unemployment declined in the areas of all employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 18,000 from last year's June and was 3.2 per cent of the labour force. There were 47,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number fell by 6,000 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 15th 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 June 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: Mr Hannu Siitonen +358 9 1734
3225, Ms Annukka Ruuhela +358 9 1734 3524, 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/