Employment and unemployment in October 2000

- 53,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 66.4 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 8.9 per cent, 225,000 unemployed
- 20,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 53,000 more employed in October than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work was up by 30,000. The number of wage-earners employed in fixed-term jobs went up by 6,000, while that of part-time workers decreased by 2,000. During October, 20,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 5,000 more than in October 1999.

In October, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 66.4 per cent, which is 1.3 percentage points higher than in last year's October. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 67.5 per cent in October. Of economic activities, employment grew most in business services and social services. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Southern Finland, Oulu and Western Finland.

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Changes in the labour force 10/1999 - 10/2000, thousand
	October 2000	October 1999	CHANGE, % 10/99 - 19/00
Statistics Finland Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2,317	2,264	2.3
- wage earners	1,990	1,954	1.9
Employment rate, %	66.4	65.1	1.3 ²
Unemployed¹	225	237	-5.1
Labour force, total	2,542	2,501	1.6
Unemployment rate, %	8.9	9.5	-0.6 ²
Economically inactive, total	1,361	1,393	-2.3
- discouraged job seekers	34	41	-17.1
- other disguised unemployment	76	81	-6.4
Ministry of Labour Employment Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	298	327	-8.9
- unemployed over a year	86	93	-7.9
Employed with subsidised measures	44	49	-9.9
In labour market training	32	43	-25.8
In trainee and job alternation places	16	17	-2.2
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	20	15	31.1
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 225,000 unemployed in October, i.e. 12,000 fewer than the year before. The year-on-year change falls within the margin of error (± 14,000 persons). The rate of unemployment was 8.9 per cent, while it was 9.5 per cent in October 1999. The unemployment rate among persons aged 25 to 74 was 7.7 per cent, whereas it stood at 8.6 per cent during the same period last year. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 18.0 per cent, while it was 17.2 per cent in last year's October. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 9.6 per cent, 20.9 per cent for young people and 7.9 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 October, 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 29,000 fewer than in October 1999. Unemployment declined in the areas of all employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 16,000 from last year's October and was 3.8 per cent of the labour force. There were 34,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number fell by 5,000 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 October 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 or the margin of error 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