Employment and unemployment in July 2000

- 42,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 70.8 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 7.8 per cent, 210,000 unemployed
- 18,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 42,000 more employed in July than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners was up by 18,000 on July 1999. The number of self-employed persons rose by 23,000. Their number increased most in various business services. The number of wage-earners employed in fixed-term jobs went up by 17,000, while that of part-time workers declined by 13,000. During July, 18,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 1,000 more than in July 1999.

In July, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.8 per cent, which is 1.1 percentage points higher than in last year's July. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 66.5 per cent in July. Of economic activities, employment grew most in business services and in health and education services. Jobs increased most in the Provinces of Western Finland, Southern Finland and Oulu.

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Changes in the labour force 7/1999 - 7/2000, thousand
	July 2000	July 1999	CHANGE, % 7/99 - 7/00
Statistics Finland Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 468	2 426	1,7
- wage earners	2 129	2 111	0,9
Employment rate, %	70,8	69,7	1,1 ²
Unemployed ¹	210	227	-7,6
Labour force, total	2 678	2 653	0,9
Unemployment rate, %	7,8	8,6	-0,8 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 224	1 237	-1,1
- discouraged job seekers	46	58	-20,5
- other disguised unemployment	69	75	-7,4
Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	338	366	-7,7
- unemployed over a year	90	100	-9,4
Employed with subsidised measures	40	49	-19,5
In labour market training	20	27	-27,0
In trainee and job alternation places	12	13	-6,6
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	18	17	7,6
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 210,000 unemployed in July and the rate of unemployment was 7.8 per cent. In July 1999, the number of unemployed was 227,000 and the rate of unemployment stood at 8.6 per cent. The unemployment rate among persons aged 25 to 74 was 7.0 per cent, while it was 7.6 per cent during the same period last year. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 12.4 per cent, whereas it was 13.6 per cent in July 1999. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 9.4 per cent, 20.5 per cent for young people and 7.8 per cent for persons aged 25 to 74. Of economic activities, unemployment decreased relatively most in financial intermediation and business services. The rate of unemployment rose in construction.

At the end of July, there were 338,000 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 28,000 fewer than in July 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 July and was 2.8 per cent of the labour force. There were 49,000 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 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. For instance, the impact is visible during summer months as students enter 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 July 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 about plus minus 0.5 percentage points. The confidence interval for the number of unemployed is approximately plus minus 15,000 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/