Employment and unemployment in September 2006

- Number of employed persons 38,000 higher than one year before
- Employment rate 68.7 per cent
- Unemployment rate 6.8 per cent, 179,000 unemployed
- 36,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices
- In January to September 2006, average number of employed 44,000 higher than during the same period of 2005

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons in September was 2,438,000, or 38,000 higher than a year earlier. In the private sector, the number of employed persons went up by 46,000. There were 49,000 more wage and salary earners in continuing full-time employment. Jobs increased in all provinces.

In September, the employment rate, i.e. the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 68.7 per cent, which was 0.7 percentage points higher than one year before. The employment rate for women rose by 0.5 percentage points to 66.7 per cent. The employment rate for men rose by 1.0 percentage points to 70.7 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate was 69.1 per cent.

Changes in the labour force 9/2005 - 9/2006, thousand persons

	September 2006	September 2005	CHANGE, % 9/05 - 9/06
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 438	2 400	1.6
- wage and salary earners	2 122	2 076	2.2
- self-employed and assisting family members	315	324	-2.6
Employment rate, %	68.7	68.0	0.7²
Unemployed¹	179	184	-2.6
Unemployment rate, %	6.8	7.1	-0.3²
Labour force, total	2 617	2 584	1.3
Labour force participation rate, %	66.0	65.4	0.6²
Economically inactive, total	1 350	1 367	-1.2
- students	372	381	-2.2
- persons performing domestic work	89	91	-2.6
Economically inactive persons in disguised unemployment	99	100	-0.3

Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	228	257	-11.4
- unemployed over a year	62	71	-13.1
Employed with subsidised measures	40	39	1.9
In labour market training	31	29	6.1
In trainee and job alternation places	19	17	7.2
New vacancies at labour exchange offices	36	30	20.8
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 figure in the text ¹Based on the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation			²percentage points

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 179,000 unemployed in September, i.e. 5,000 fewer than in the year before. The unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent, having been 7.1 per cent in the year before. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 7.9 per cent in September. The unemployment rate for women diminished from 7.9 per cent in the year before to 7.5 per cent, and the unemployment rate for men diminished from 6.4 to 6.2 per cent. In September 2006 the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 14.7 per cent, which was 1.4 percentage points lower than in the previous year's September. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 18.4 per cent. The unemployment rate was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, where it stood at 5.8 per cent, and highest, at 10.6 percent, in the Province of Eastern Finland.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons in the third quarter of 2006was 2,494,000, which is 50,000 more than over the corresponding period in the year before. Examined by industry, employment increased during the third quarter of 2006 in metal and technology industries, business services and public administration. Examined by province, the number of employed persons grew most in the Province of Southern Finland. The average number of unemployed persons was 181,000, which was 9,000 fewer than in the third quarter of 2005.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons in the January to September 2006period was 2,445,000, which is 44,000 more than over the corresponding period in the year before. The average number of unemployed persons was 214,000, or 14,000 fewer than in the January to September period of 2005.

At end-September 2006, there were altogether 228,000 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 29,000 lower than in September 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 higher than in September the year before, and was 3.4 per cent of the labour force. There were 24,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 at the labour exchange offices. Their number was 4,000 lower than in last year's September. During this September, 36,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 6,000 more than in September 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/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 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 may not agree with the number of unemployed persons calculated in accordance with the ILO recommendations. Since the Labour Force Survey is a sample survey, its data allow for random variation. For example, the 95 per cent confidence interval, or margin of error, for the unemployment rate in September is about ± 0.5 percentage points. The confidence interval for the number of unemployed persons in September is approximately ± 15,000 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
E-mail: tyovoimatutkimus@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 employment figures published by the EU