Employment and unemployment in August 2001

- 8,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 69.6 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 7.8 per cent, 206,000 unemployed
- 26,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 8,000 more employed in August than a year earlier. The growth of employment slowed further compared to the early part of the year. The number of wage-earners rose but that of self-employed persons fell. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work grew by 27,000. The number of fixed-term and/or part-time jobs increased by 5,000 from the previous year. During August, 26,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 1,000 less than in August 2000.

In August, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 69.6 per cent, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than in last year's August. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stood at 67.7 per cent in August. Of economic activities, employment grew in restaurants and hotels, health and business services. Employment decreased in agriculture, transport, trade and manufacturing. Jobs increased most in the Province of Western Finland.

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Changes in the labour force 8/2000 - 8/2001, thousand
	August 2001	August 2000	CHANGE, % 8/00 - 8/01
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2,435	2,427	0.3
- wage-earners	2,133	2,101	1.5
Employment rate, %	69.6	69.5	0.1 ²
Unemployed¹	206	219	-5.8
Labour force, total	2,641	2,646	-0.2
Unemployment rate, %	7.8	8.3	-0.5 ²
Economically inactive, total	1,269	1,256	1.0
- discouraged job seekers	26	32	-18.9
- other disguised unemployment	61	72	-15.1
Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	294	312	-5.6
- unemployed over a year	82	89	-8.1
Employed with subsidised measures	38	43	-11.1
In labour market training	19	21	-10.4
In trainee and job alternation places	14	14	1.7
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	26	27	-2.7
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 206,000 unemployed in August, i.e. 13,000 fewer than the year before. The rate of unemployment was 7.8 per cent, while it was 8.3 per cent one year previously. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate has been around 9 per cent since May. The unemployment rate for men was 7.1 per cent and for women 8.6 per cent. The unemployment rate for women fell by one percentage point from the year before, while that for men remained unchanged. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 12.5 per cent, while it was 14.7 per cent in August 2000. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 19.2 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, i.e. 5.7 per cent, and highest in the Province of Oulu, at 12.2 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons in the January to August period of this year, 2,377,000, was 37,000 higher than in the corresponding period last year. The number of unemployed persons was 248,000, which is 20,000 lower than in the January to August period in 2000.

At the end of August 2001, there were 294,000 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 17,000 fewer than in August 2000. Unemployment declined in the areas of all employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 7,000 from the year before and was 2.8 per cent of the labour force. There were 38,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number fell by 2,000 from August 2000.

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. The data for the Labour Force Survey are collected for every week of the month.

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 August unemployment figures of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Labour was approximately the same as 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 Heikki Tervo +358 9 1734 2921;
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/