Employment and unemployment in April 2004

- 45,000 fewer employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 65.3 per cent
- Number of unemployed same as one year earlier
- Rate of unemployment 10.6 per cent, 272,000 unemployed
- 32,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons was 45,000 lower this April than in April 2003. The number unemployed persons remained unchanged, so the total size of the labour force decreased by 45,000 form the year before. The size of the population of working age grew by 9,000 in the year. There were 54,000 more persons of working age outside the labour force than in April 2003.

The numbers of both self-employed persons and wage earners fell. The number of wage earners engaged in continuous full-time work decreased by 14,000. Among the people working in atypical employment relationships, the proportion of part-time employees grew by 9,000 while that of fixed-term employees fell by 8,000. Compared to April 2003, employment decreased in agriculture, manufacturing and construction but increased in trade and transport. Jobs decreased in all provinces except for the Province of Lapland.

In April, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 65.3 per cent, which is 1.3 percentage points lower than one year earlier. The employment rate for women fell by 1.2 percentage points to 64.5 per cent. The employment rate for men went down by 1.2 percentage points and was 66.2 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate was 66.7 per cent.

Changes in the labour force 4/2003 - 4/2004, thousand

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	April 2004	April 2003	CHANGE, % 4/03 - 4/04
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey
Employed, total	2 294	2 339	-1.9
- wage-earners	2 004	2 013	-0.5
- self-employed and unpaid family workers	290	326	-11.0
Employment rate, %	65.3	66.6	-1.3 ²
Unemployed¹	272	272	0.1
Unemployment rate, %	10.6	10.4	0.2 ²
Labour force, total	2 566	2 611	-1.7
Labour force participation rate, %	65.2	66.5	-1.3 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 367	1 313	4.1
- students	350	324	7.9
- persons performing domestic work	97	86	12.6
Economically inactive persons in disguised unemployment	86	86	1.0
Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics
Unemployed job seekers	279	281	-0.7
- unemployed over a year	72	72	-0.5
Employed with subsidised measures	37	37	-0.4
In labour market training	36	35	3.8
In trainee and job alternation places	22	21	3.3
New vacancies at labour exchange offices	32	34	-5.2
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 272,000 unemployed in April, i.e. the same number as one year before. The rate of unemployment was 10.6 per cent, or 0.2 percentage points higher than twelve months earlier. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 9.1 per cent.

Men's unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 11.0 per cent. Women's unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points and was 10.2 per cent. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 went up by 0.1 percentage point to 28.0 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 20.7 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland at 8.0 per cent and highest in the Province of Eastern Finland at 15.7 per cent. Of all industries, the unemployment rate was highest in construction, 13.8 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons in the January to April 2004 period was 2,299,00, i.e. 25,000 fewer than in the corresponding time period of the previous year. The number of unemployed persons was 246,000, or 4,000 fewer than in January to April 2003.

At the end of April 2004, there were altogether 279,000 persons registered, in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act and the Labour Exchange Office Regulations, as job seekers at the labour exchange offices. The number of unemployed job seekers was 2,000 lower than in April 2003. Unemployment increased from the previous year in the areas of three and continued to decrease in those of 12 employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures increased by 2,000 from April 2003 and was 3.8 per cent of the labour force. There were 31,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was the same as in last year's April. During this April, 32,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 2,000 fewer than in April 2003.

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.

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 ± 17,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517, Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434;
E-mail: tyovoima.tilastokeskus@stat.fi;
Ministry of Labour: Mr Oiva Lönnberg +358 9 1856 8048;
Latest seasonally adjusted unemployment figures published by the EU at: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/eurostat/

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