Employment and unemployment in January 2002

- 14,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 65.3 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 9.9 per cent, 252,000 unemployed
- 29,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 14,000 more employed in January 2002 than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners went up, but that of self-employed persons remained unchanged. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work went up by 12,000. The number of part-time jobs was approximately the same as one year ago. During January, 29,000 new vacancies, i.e. as many as in January 2001, were reported to the labour exchange offices.

In January 2002, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 65.3 per cent, which is 0.2 percentage points higher than twelve months earlier. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate in January 2002 was 67.7 per cent. Compared to January 2001, employment grew in business activities and social services. Employment declined in agriculture, transport and health services. Jobs increased in the Province of Southern Finland and decreased in those of Oulu and Lapland.

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Changes in the labour force 01/2001 - 01/2002, thousand
	January 2002	January 2001	CHANGE, % 01/01 - 01/02
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2,286	2,272	0.6
- wage-earners	1,969	1,955	0.7
Employment rate, %	65.3	65.1	0.2 ²
Unemployed¹	252	248	1.3
Labour force, total	2,538	2,520	0.7
Unemployment rate, %	9.9	9.9	0.0 ²
Economically inactive, total	1,376	1,384	-0.6
- discouraged job seekers	33	40	-18.1
- other disguised unemployment	70	88	-20.3
Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	321	324	-0.7
- unemployed over a year	81	88	-8.3
Employed with subsidised measures	35	40	-12.7
In labour market training	23	27	-13.0
In trainee and job alternation places	14	15	-9.7
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	29	29	-0.6
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 252,000 unemployed in January, i.e. 4,000 more than in January 2001. The change is within the margin of error (± 15 000). The rate of unemployment stayed unchanged at 9.9 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 9.3 per cent, which is the same as in December 2001.

The unemployment rates for men and women were equally high, or 9.9 per cent. The unemployment rate for women fell by 0.9 percentage points, while that for men rose by the same amount. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 24.3 per cent, while in January 2001 it stood at 20.0 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the rate of unemployment among young people was 21.3 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest, or 7.0 per cent, in the Province of Southern Finland and highest in the Province of Lapland, at 21.2 per cent.

At the end of January 2002, there were 321,000 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 3,000 fewer than in last year's January. Unemployment declined in the areas of eight but rose in the areas of seven employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 10,000 from January 2001 and was 3.0 per cent of the labour force. There were 39,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. The number was 1,000 up on the January 2001 figure.

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 January 2002 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 ± 0.6 percentage points. The confidence interval for the number of unemployed is approximately ± 15,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517, Mr Tapio Oksanen +358 9 1734 3228, Mr Kalle Sinivuori +358 9 1734 3524;
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/