Positive employment trend in June

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland there were 1 983 000 wage earners in June, which is 65 000 more than the year before. The number of wage earners increased in all industries except transport and communications. Employment improved the most in the field of construction.

There were 408 000 unemployed persons in June, about 30 000 less than a year earlier. The unemployment rate was 15.0 per cent, being 1.4 percentage points lower than that of June 1996. The unemployment of men declined much more than that of women.

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Changes in the labour force 6/1996-6/1997, 1 000 persons
	June	May		June	CHANGE, %
	1996	1997		1997	6/96-6/97
Employed wage earners	1 918	1 855		1 983	3.4
processing industries	569	539		594	4.4
service sector	1 299	1 266		1 342	3.3
other industries	49	50		47	-3.2
Employed entrepreneurs +	320	326		333	4.2
assisting family members
Employed, total	2 238	2 182		2 319	3.6

Unemployed, total	439	438		408	-7.0
under 25 years of age	107	156		129	20.7
Unemployment rate, %	16.4	16.7		15.0	-1.4 ¹
under 25 years of age, %	26.1	41.4		28.6	2.5 ¹

Not in the labour force
aged between 15-74	1 173	1 240		1 135	-3.2
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 June 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 June 9 and 15. 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 June unemployment rate is ± 0.5 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.

420 500 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 June 420 500 unemployed persons were registered in the job applicants register of the Ministry of Labour.

Source: Labour Force Survey,June 1997. Statistics Finland
Inquiries: Mr. Hannu Siitonen, tel. +358 9 1734 3225 and
Ms. Päivi Keinänen, tel. +358 9 1734 3416