Employment and unemployment in September 2000

- 38,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 66.7 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 9.1 per cent, 234,000 unemployed
- 20,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 38,000 more employed in September than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work was up by 40,000. The number of wage-earners employed in fixed-term jobs went down by 6,000, while that of part-time workers increased by 23,000. During September, 20,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 2,000 more than in September 1999.

In September, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 66.7 per cent, which is 0.8 percentage points higher than in last year's September. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 67.4 per cent in September. Of economic activities, employment grew most in business services. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Oulu, Southern Finland and Western Finland.

cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"

Changes in the labour force 9/1999 - 9/2000, thousand
	September 2000	September 1999	CHANGE, % 9/99 - 9/00
Statistics Finland Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2,332	2,294	1.7
- wage earners	2,012	1,962	2.6
Employment rate, %	66.7	65.9	0.8 ²
Unemployed¹	234	230	1.9
Labour force, total	2,566	2,524	1.7
Unemployment rate, %	9.1	9.1	0.0 ²
Economically inactive, total	1,336	1,369	-2.4
- discouraged job seekers	35	39	-10.4
- other disguised unemployment	76	85	-10.5
Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	298	328	-9.1
- unemployed over a year	86	95	-9.5
Employed with subsidised measures	44	50	-13.2
In labour market training	27	38	-28.9
In trainee and job alternation places	15	16	-2.5
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	20	18	13.4
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 234,000 unemployed in September and 230,000 the year before. The year-on-year change is within the margin of error (± 14,000 persons). The rate of unemployment was 9.1 per cent, the same as in September 1999. The unemployment rate among persons aged 25 to 74 was 8.3 per cent, while it was 8.0 per cent during the same period last year. Youth unemployment fell from the year before. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 15.8 per cent, whereas it was 17.6 per cent in last year's September. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent, 20.5 per cent for young people and 8.0 per cent for persons aged 25 to 74. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland and highest in the Province of Lapland.

At the end of September, there were 298,000 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 30,000 fewer than in September 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 September and was 3.5 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 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. For instance, the impact is visible during spring and 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 September 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 ± 0.5 percentage points. The confidence interval for the number of unemployed is approximately ± 14,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517, Mr Hannu Siitonen +358 9 1734 3225, Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Tapio Oksanen +358 9 1734 3228; 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/en/comm/eurostat/