20 July 2004

Employment and unemployment in June 2004

- Number of employed persons unchanged
- Employment rate 70.5 per cent
- Number of unemployed persons 23,000 lower than one year earlier
- Rate of unemployment 8.9 per cent, 241,000 unemployed
- 23,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 2,481,000 employed persons in June, or practically the same number as twelve months earlier. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 23,000 and the size of the labour force by 25,000. There were 33,000 more persons outside the labour force than in June 2003.

The number of self-employed persons was 25,000 higher, whereas the number of wage earners was 26,000 lower than one year previously. Among the people working in so-called atypical employment relationships, the number of fixed-term employees decreased by 24,000 and the number of part-time employees grew by 14,000. Compared to June 2003, employment increased in manufacturing but decreased in construction, and health and social services. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Southern Finland and Western Finland and decreased in the Province of Eastern Finland.

In June, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.5 per cent, which is 0.2 percentage points lower than one year earlier. The employment rate for men rose by 0.9 percentage points to 73.1 per cent. The employment rate for women fell by 1.3 percentage points and was 67.9 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate was 66.9 per cent.

Changes in the labour force 6/2003 - 6/2004, thousand

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 241,000 unemployed in June. The rate of unemployment was 8.9 per cent, or 0.7 percentage points lower than twelve months earlier. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 8.8 per cent.

Men's unemployment rate fell by 1.8 percentage points to 8.3 per cent. Women's unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points and was 9.5 per cent. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 went down by 1.9 percentage points to 19.7 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 20.5 per cent. Unemployment rate was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland at 7.3 per cent and highest in the Province of Lapland at 15.9 per cent. Of all industries, the unemployment rate was highest in construction, 7.0 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons in the January to June 2004 period was 2,342,000, which is 17,000 fewer than in the corresponding time period of the previous year. The number of unemployed persons was 256,000, which is 6,000 fewer than in January to June 2003.

At the end of June 2004, there were altogether 296,000 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 1,000 higher than in June 2003. Unemployment rose from the previous year in the areas of five and fell in those of 10 employment and economic development centres. The number of persons covered by employment policy measures went up by 1,000 from June 2003 and was 3.0 per cent of the labour force. There were 41,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was 1,000 lower than in June 2003. During this June, 23,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 3,000 fewer than in June 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 ± 16,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517, Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434;
E-mail: tyovoima.tilastokeskus@stat.fi;
Ministry of Labour: Ms Ella Laakso +358 9 1604 8051;
Latest seasonally adjusted unemployment figures published by the EU at: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/eurostat/

Press release in PDF format