Employment and unemployment in June 2007

- Number of employed persons 60,000 higher than one year earlier
- Employment rate 73.5 per cent
- Unemployment rate 7.4 per cent, 209,000 unemployed
- 37,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices
- In January to June 2007, average number of employed 49,000 higher than one year earlier

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons in June was 2,619,000, or 60,000 higher than a year earlier. Employment increased in the private sector and remained unchanged in the public sector. There were 57,000 more wage and salary earners in continuing full-time employment than one year previously. The number of employed persons went up in the provinces of Southern Finland, Western Finland and Oulu.

In June, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 73.5 per cent, which was 1.4 percentage points higher than one year before. The employment rate of men was 75.7 per cent and that of women 71.3 per cent. The seasonally adjusted trend of employment rate was 70.2 per cent.

Changes in the labour force 6/2006 - 6/2007, thousand persons

	June 2007	June 2006	CHANGE, % 6/06 - 6/07
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2,619	2,559	2.3
- wage and salary earners	2,300	2,248	2.3
- self-employed and assisting family members	319	311	2.7
Employment rate, %	73.5	72.1	1.4²
Unemployed¹	209	225	-7.2
Unemployment rate, %	7.4	8.1	-0.7²
Labour force, total	2,828	2,784	1.6
Labour force participation rate, %	71.1	70.3	0.8²
Economically inactive, total	1,152	1,178	-2.2
- students	163	167	-2.6
- persons performing domestic work	102	98	4.2

Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	225	259	-13.1
- unemployed over a year	52	66	-20.1
Employed with subsidised measures	41	38	6.6
In labour market training	25	23	7.5
In trainee and job alternation places	17	17	0.5
New vacancies at labour exchange offices	37	33	12.2
Unrounded figures are used in the CHANGE column ¹Based on the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation			²percentage points

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 209,000 unemployed in June 2007, i.e. 16,000 fewer than in June of the year before. At 7.4 per cent the unemployment rate was 0.7 percentage points lower than one year before. The seasonally adjusted trend of unemployment rate was 6.6 per cent in June.

The unemployment rate was lowest in the Province of Western Finland, where it stood at 6.2 per cent, and highest, at 11.1 percent, in the Province of Eastern Finland. In June 2007, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 18.0 per cent, which was 1.6 percentage points lower than in the previous year's June. The seasonally adjusted trend of unemployment rate for young people was 15.8 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons during the second quarter of 2007was 2,524,000, which is 63,000 more than over the corresponding period the year before. The number of wage and salary earners went up and that of self-employed persons was nearly unchanged. During the second quarter of the year employment increased in the construction, trade, hotel and restaurant industries as well as in business services industries. Employment decreased in transport industries. The number of unemployed persons was 210,000, which is 31,000 fewer than in the April to June period of 2006. The number of unemployed persons decreased in all provinces.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons in the January to June 2007period was 2,470,000, which is 49,000 more than over the corresponding period in the year before. The average number of unemployed persons was 204,000, or 26,000 fewer than in the January to June period of 2006.

At the end of June 2007, there were altogether 225,000 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 34,000 lower than in June 2006. 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 June the year before, and was 2.9 per cent of the labour force. There were 26,000 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 this June, 37,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 4,000 more than in June 2006.

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 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. For example, the 95 per cent confidence interval, or the margin of error, for the June unemployment rate is about ± 0.6 percentage points. The confidence interval for the June number of unemployed is approximately ± 16,000 persons.

Inquiries:

Statistics Finland: Mr Juha Martikainen +358 9 1734 3225, Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434, Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517

Information Service/Labour Force Survey +358 9 1734 2030, Email: tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi
Internet: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/index_en.html

Ministry of Labour: Mr Mikko Kauppinen +358 10 60 48045, Internet: http://www.mol.fi/employmentbulletin

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU