Job growth in manufacturing and construction

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland there were 1 855 000 wage earners in May, which is some 60 000 more than the year before. The number of wage earners increased in all industries, the rise being the highest in manufacturing and construction.

There were 438 000 unemployed persons in May, about the same as a year earlier. The unemployment rate was 16.7 per cent, being 0.3 percentage points lower than that of May 1996. The unemployment of men and young people declined, whereas that of women increased.

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Changes in the labour force 5/1996-5/1997, 1 000 persons
	May	April	May		CHANGE, %
	1996	1997	1997		5/96-5/97
Employed wage earners	1 793	1 797	1 855		3.5
processing industries	509	531	539		5.8
service sector	1 236	1 227	1 266		2.4
other industries	48	39	50		5.0

Employed entrepreneurs +	336	327	326		-3.1
assisting family members

Employed, total	2 130	2 125	2 182		2.5

Unemployed, total	435	424	438		0.6
under 25 years of age	180	98	156		-13.5
Unemployment rate, %	17.0	16.6	16.7		-0.3 ¹
under 25 years of age, %	55.4	33.5	41.4		-14.0 ¹

Not in the labour force
aged between 15-74	1 283	1 309	1 240		-3.4
Unrounded figures are used in the CHANGE column.				¹ percentage points

Impact of the revision on comparability

The Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland has been revised as of the beginning of 1997 to better correspond to the concepts and definitions used by the European Union and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Owing to the revision of the Labour Force Survey comparisons made in 1997 on the year before will be less reliable than normally. An estimate was made on the impact that the revision had on the figures for May 1996 and the figures presented here were adjusted accordingly.The revision was based on the results of the parallel survey conducted between March-December 1996. The sample in the survey was, however, fairly small and did not cover the whole year, so the revisions are crude. The comparability of the survey will reach the customary level in January 1998, when data for the revised survey will have been collected for a whole year.

This year it is advisable to assess the trend of employment primarily on the basis of changes in the number of wage earners. This is due to the fact the introduction of the statistical principles of the European Union at the beginning of the year makes it difficult to compare in particular the number of entrepreneurs with those of the year before.

The data for the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland were collected by interviewing some 12 000 Finnish residents of working age. The data are from between May 12 and 18. The Labour Force Survey is a panel survey where over a period of 18 months each person is included five times in the sample.

Since the Labour Force Survey is a sample survey, random variation has to be taken into account when assessing the changes. The confidence interval of the May unemployment rate is ± 0.6 percentage points.

The Labour Force Survey produces data both on employment and unemployment. It is based on the international recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the European Union and the survey is comparable to statistics produced by other countries.

395 000 unemployed job seekers

The Ministry of Labour also publishes statistics on unemployment. The data are on unemployed job seekers on the last working day of each month. Owing to differences in methods and definitions, the unemployment figures issued by Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Labour are not fully comparable. The trend in the changes is generally in the same direction, with the figures of the Ministry of Labour being higher by some tens of thousands. At the end of May 395 000 unemployed persons were registered in the job applicants register of the Ministry of Labour.The unemployment figure of Statistics Finland was nevertheless higher than that of the Ministry of Labour in May. The rise in the figures of the Labour Force Survey to a level close to that of the Ministry of Labour in the spring was to be expected once the unemployment principles of the EU were implemented in the Labour Force Survey. The changes involved in particular the classification of both students and those in training into the category of unemployed.

Source: Labour Force Survey,May 1997. Statistics Finland
Inquiries: Mr. Tapio Oksanen, tel. +358 9 1734 3228 and
Ms. Salme Kiiski, tel. +358 9 1734 3230