Employment and unemployment in February 2006

- Number of employed persons 47,000 higher than one year ago
- Employment rate 67.5 per cent
- Number of unemployed 18,000 lower than one year ago
- Rate of unemployment 8,4 per cent, 219,000 unemployed
- 52,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons was 2,395,000 in February, or 47,000 higher than one year previously. Employment increased especially among the population aged over 55. Employment improved only in the private sector. The numbers of wage earners and self-employed persons both went up. Employment increased most in the Province of Western Finland.

In February, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.5 per cent, which is 0.8 percentage points higher than twelve months before. The employment rate for men rose to 68.8 per cent and that for women to 66.2 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate went up to 68.8 per cent.

Changes in the labour force 2/2005 - 2/2006, thousand persons

	February 2006	February 2005	Change, % 2/05 - 2/06
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed total	2,395	2,348	2.0
- wage and salary earners	2,087	2,060	1.3
- self-employed and assisting family members	308	288	6.7
Employment rate, %	67.5	66.7	0.8 ²
Unemployed¹	219	237	-7.6
Unemployment rate, %	8.4	9.2	-0.8 ²
Labour force, total	2,614	2,585	1.1
Labour force participation rate, %	66.1	65.6	0.5 ²
Economically inactive, total	1,343	1,357	-1.0
- students	387	383	-1.0
- persons performing domestic work	83	85	-3.1
- economically inactive persons in disguised unemployment	80	73	9.2

Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	271	290	-6.5
- unemployed over a year	70	74	-5.2
Employed with subsidised measures	36	39	-5.7
In labour market training	31	33	-6.3
In trainee and job alternation places	18	17	3.7
New vacancies at labour exchange offices	52	43	21.3
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 219,000 unemployed in February, or 18,000 fewer than one year previously. The rate of unemployment was 8.4 per cent, having been 9.2 per cent twelve months earlier. The unemployment rate for men was 8.5 per cent and that for women 8.2 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate in February was 8.1 per cent.

The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 23.2 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 20.1 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, 6.8 per cent, and highest in the Province of Lapland at 14.3 per cent.

At the end of February 2006, there were altogether 271,000 persons registered, in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act and the Labour Exchange Office Regulations, as unemployed job seekers at the labour exchange offices. The number of unemployed job seekers was 19,000 lower than in February 2005. Unemployment fell from the previous year in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures was 4,000 lower than in February 2005, being 3.3 per cent of the labour force. There were 28,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was 3,000 lower than in February 2005. During this February, 52,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 9,000 more than in last year's February.

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. Due to the statistical differences, the number of unemployed job seekers may 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 ± 0.5 percentage points. The confidence interval for the number of unemployed is approximately ± 15,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434, Ms Heidi Melasniemi-Uutela +358 9 1734 2523, Mr Juha Martikainen +358 9 1734 3225
Email: tyovoima.tilastokeskus@stat.fi; Internet: http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/index_en.html

Ministry of Labour: Mr Oiva Lönnberg +358 10 60 48048; Internet: http://www.mol.fi/employmentbulletin

Latest seasonally adjusted unemployment figures published by the EU