Employment and unemployment in June 2006

- Number of employed persons 38,000 higher than one year before
- Rate of employment 72.1 per cent
- Number of unemployed 14,000 lower than one year ago
- Rate of unemployment 8.1 per cent, 225,000 unemployed
- 33,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices
- In January to June 2006, the average number of employed persons 40,000 higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons in June was 2,559,000, or 38,000 higher than a year earlier. The number of wage earners went up while that of self-employed persons remained unchanged. Jobs increased most in the Provinces of Western Finland and Lapland.

In June, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 72.1 per cent, which is 0.6 percentage points higher than twelve months earlier. The employment rate for men rose by 0.6 percentage points to 74.0 per cent. The employment rate for women rose by 0.7 percentage points to 70.2 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate went up to 68.5 per cent.

Changes in the labour force 6/2005 - 6/2006, thousand persons

	June 2006	June 2005	CHANGE, % 6/05 - 6/06
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed total	2 559	2 521	1.5
- wage and salary earners	2 248	2 210	1.7
- self-employed and assisting family members	311	311	0.1
Employment rate, %	72.1	71.5	0.6²
Unemployed ¹	225	239	-6.0
Unemployment rate, %	8.1	8.7	-0.6²
Labour force, total	2 784	2 760	0.9
Labour force participation rate, %	70.3	69.9	0.4²
Economically active, total	1 178	1 187	-0.7
- students	167	170	-1.8
- persons performing domestic work	98	92	6.9
Economically inactive persons in disguised unemployment	105	111	-5.2

Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	259	285	-9.1
- unemployed over a year	66	73	-10.1
Employed with subsidised measures	38	40	-3.6
In labour market training	23	23	1.1
In trainee and job alternation places	17	16	7.8
New vacacies at labour exchange offices	33	29	13.4
Unrounded figures are used in the CHANGE column Due to rounding the year-on-year changes in the table do not always match with the figures in the text. ¹ Based on the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)			² percentage points

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 225,000 unemployed in June, i.e. 14,000 fewer than one year before. The rate of unemployment was 8.1 per cent, having been 8.7 per cent twelve months previously. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate in June was 7.7 per cent. Compared to twelve months earlier, the unemployment rate of men fell to 7.2 per cent from 8.3 per cent while that of women remained unchanged at 9. 0 per cent. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 19.6 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the rate of unemployment for young people was 19.1 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, i.e. 7.1 per cent, and highest in the Province of Oulu, at 11.8 per cent.

According to the Labout Force Survey, in the January to June 2006 period the average number of employed persons was 2,421,000 per month, or 40,000 higher than during the same period of the year before. The average number of unemployed persons was 230,000 per month, which is 16,000 lower that over the same time period of 2005. Examined by industry, in the first half of 2006 the number of employed persons exceeded the previous year's respective figure by 14,000 in the metal industry, by 12,000 in the group of architectural and engineering activities and related technical consultancy, and miscellaneous business activities, by 10,000 in social services and by 9,000 in transport. In the consumption goods industry, the number of employed persons fell by 7,000.

At the end of June 2006, there were altogether 259,000 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 26,000 lower than in June 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 almost the same as in June 2005, being 2.8 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 5,000 lower than in last year's June. During June 2006, 33,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 4,000 more than in June 2005.

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 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: Ms Heidi Melasniemi-Uutela +358 9 1734 2523, Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434, Mr Juha Martikainen +358 9 1734 3225
Email: tyovoimatutkimus@tilastokeskus.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/mol/en/01_ministry/07_empbullet/index.jsp

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU