Employment and unemployment in September 2007

- Number of employed persons 34,000 higher than one year earlier
- Employment rate 69.3 per cent
- Unemployment rate 6.4 per cent, 168,000 unemployed
- 43,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices
- In January to September 2007, average number of employed 48,000 higher than one year earlier

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons in September was 2,472,000, or 34,000 higher than a year earlier. Employment increased in the private sector and remained nearly unchanged in the public sector. The share of wage and salary earners in continuous full-time employment was 74.8 per cent, whereas one year before it was 74.5 per cent. The number of employed persons went up in the Provinces of Southern and Western Finland and fell in the Province of Eastern Finland.

In September, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 69.3 per cent, which was 0.6 percentage points higher than one year before. The employment rate of men was 70.7 per cent and that of women 67.9 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 70.0 per cent.

Changes in the labour force 9/2006 - 9/2007, thousand persons

	September 2007	September 2006	CHANGE, % 9/06 - 9/07
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2,472	2,438	1.4
- wage and salary earners	2,158	2,122	1.7
- self-employed and assisting family members	314	315	-0.5
Employment rate, %	69.3	68.7	0.6²
Unemployed¹	168	179	-6.0
Unemployment rate, %	6.4	6.8	-0.5²
Labour force, total	2,640	2,617	0.9
Labour force participation rate, %	66.3	66.0	0.3²
Economically inactive, total	1,345	1,350	-0.4
- students	374	372	0.6
- persons performing domestic work	85	89	-4.6

Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	198	228	-13.0
- unemployed over a year	49	62	-20.1
Employed with subsidised measures	38	40	-4.7
In labour market training	31	31	0.0
In trainee and job alternation places	18	19	-4.4
New vacancies at labour exchange offices	43	36	18.6
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 168,000 unemployed in September 2007, i.e. 11,000 fewer than in September of the year before. At 6.4 per cent, the unemployment rate was 0.5 percentage points lower than one year before. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.1 per cent in September.

The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, where it stood at 5.4 per cent, and highest in the Province of Lapland, at 9.6 per cent. In September 2007 the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to -24 was 13.3 per cent, which was 1.4 percentage points lower than in the previous year's September. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 16.1 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons during the third quarter of 2007was 2,542,000, which is 48,000 more than over the corresponding period the year before. The number of wage and salary earners went up and that of self-employed persons stayed unchanged. During the third quarter of the year, employment increased in the construction, trade, hotel and restaurant as well as business services industries. Employment decreased in the transport industry. The number of unemployed persons was 164,000, which is 17,000 fewer than in the July to September period of 2006.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the average number of employed persons in the January to September 2007period was 2,494,000, which is 48,000 more than over the corresponding period in the year before. The average number of unemployed persons was 191,000, or 23,000 fewer than in the January to September period of 2006.

At the end of September 2007, there were altogether 198,000 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 30,000 lower than in September 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 3,000 lower than in September of the year before, and was 3.3 per cent of the labour force. There were 20,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was 4,000 lower than in last year's September. During this September, 43,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 7,000 more than in September 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 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 ± 14,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517, Mr Juha Martikainen +358 9 1734 3225, Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434, Information Service/Labour Force Survey +358 9 1734 2030

Email: 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