Employment and unemployment in September 2002

- 15,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 67.0 per cent
- 16,000 fewer unemployed than a year ago
- Rate of unemployment 8.1 per cent, 207,000 unemployed
- 23,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 15,000 more employed in September 2002 than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners increased, whereas that of self-employed persons fell compared to the year before. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work fell by 15,000. In September, 35,000 more wage-earners than one year ago were in atypical, e.g. part-time or fixed-term, employment relationships. During September, 23,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 3,000 more than in September 2001.

In September, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.0 per cent, which is 0.3 percentage points higher than one year ago. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate was 67.7 per cent. The employment rate for men fell by 1.0 percentage points to 68.5 per cent, whereas that for women rose by 1.6 percentage points and was 65.4 per cent. Compared to last year's September, employment grew in public and other services and in retail trade. Employment declined in manufacturing and construction. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Eastern and Western Finland and decreased in the Province of Southern Finland.

Changes in the labour force 09/2001 - 09/2002, thousand

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	September 2002	September 2001	CHANGE, % 09/01 - 09/02
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 350	2 335	0.7
- wage-earners	2 053	2 033	1.0
- self-employed and unpaid family workers	297	302	-1.6
Employment rate, %	67.0	66.7	0.3 ²
Unemployed¹	207	223	-7.3
Labour force, total	2 557	2 558	0.0
Unemployment rate, %	8,1	8,7	-0.6 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 363	1 353	0.7
- discouraged job seekers	29	30	-3.0
- other disguised unemployment	82	68	21.1
Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	275	286	-3.7
- unemployed over a year	76	80	-4.9
Employed with subsidised measures	39	38	1.5
In labour market training	27	24	13.9
In trainee and job alternation places	17	15	13.8
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	23	19	17.3
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 207,000 unemployed in September, i.e.16,000 fewer than a year before. The rate of unemployment was 8.1 per cent, while one year earlier it was 8.7 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the rate of unemployment fell to 8.9 per cent.

The unemployment rate for women fell by 1,6 percentage points to 8.0 per cent, while that for men rose by 0.3 percentage points to 8.2 per cent. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 15.2 per cent, having been 17.6 per cent in September 2001. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate among young people fell to 20.5 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, i.e. 6.7 per cent, and highest in the Province of Lapland, at 13.2 per cent. Among the industries, unemployment rate was highest in construction at 8.8. per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons was 2,382,000 in the January to September period of his year, which is 10,000 more than in the corresponding period of 2001. The number of unemployed persons was 246,000, i.e. barely one thousand more than in the January to September period of 2001.

At the end of September, there were 275,000 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 10,000 fewer than in September 2001. Unemployment declined elsewhere in the country, but rose in the employment and economic development centres of Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi. The number of those covered by employment policy measures grew by 6,000 from last year's September and was 3.3 per cent of the labour force. There were 32,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was 2,000 lower than in September 2001.

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 September unemployment figures of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Labour was slightly larger 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, Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Kalle Sinivuori +358 9 1734 3524, Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434;
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/