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29 May, 1998

Inquiries: Mr Timo Koskimäki + 358 9 1734 3517
Statistical Director in charge: Mr Risto Lehtonen

Harmonised statistics on unemployment from Statistics Finland and the EU

Statistics Finland has adopted in its unemployment statistics the same practices as are used by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Until now, the criterion on how actively a person seeks work has been interpreted in Finnish statistics more loosely than recommended by the EU.

The change in the practice will decrease the number of the unemployed by several tens of thousands. According to the new practice, the rate of unemployment, that is the proportion of the unemployed of the total labour force, was 12.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, whereas the old practice would have put the rate at 13.6 per cent. According to the new practice, the number of the unemployed was 293,000, as opposed to 336,000 according to the old practice.

Statistics Finland has published time series, adjusted according to the new practice, from 1988 up to April of this year. May 1998 statistics will be published on 16 June 1998.

Statistics Finland has brought its labour force statistics in line with the EU regulations and practices in two phases. The first revision took effect from the beginning of last year. The current revision relates to the EU's new labour force survey regulation which came into force in March of this year. Prior to these two revisions, Statistics Finland's labour force survey methods were last revised in 1983 - 1984.

Previous practice differed from the EU practice in two respects

The employment statistics of Statistics Finland and the EU both follow the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). According to the recommendation, a person who is out of work, has actively sought work during the past four weeks and would be available to start work within the next two weeks, should be classified as unemployed in the statistics. However, the ILO recommendation does allow for the statistical criteria to be adapted to local national conditions. Statistics Finland's previous unemployment statistics differed from the EU practice in two respects. The first related to the criterion of how actively a person had to seek work and the second to the exclusion of certain student groups from unemployment statistics.

The differing practice relating to certain student groups was abandoned from the beginning of last year. For this reason, there was a distinct increase in youth unemployment in the spring, as the school year ended. According to the new practice, students in their final year of comprehensive school, upper secondary school or vocational school are classified as unemployed on the same basis as other groups even where the school term has not yet formally ended.

The differing practice relating to how actively a person sought work applied to those out-of-work job seekers who only sought work by registering at a labour exchange office. In Finnish statistics, they were regarded as active job seekers even if they had not been in touch with the labour exchange office in the four weeks preceding the survey. In the new statistical practice, the four-week-rule is equally applied to persons seeking work through labour exchange offices or by any other means.

Most of the unemployed also seek work by means other than just registering as unemployed at a labour exchange office. For example, they follow vacancy advertisements, contact employers direct or register with private employment agencies, etc. Where they are concerned, the statistical principles have not been changed.

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Unemployment and unemployment rate according to the new and old statistical practices 1988 - 1997 and in the 1st quarter of 1998
	New practice		Old practice
	Unemployed	Unemployment rate	Unemployed	Unemployment rate
	1,000 persons	%	1,000 persons	%
1988	108	4.2	113	4.4
1989	80	3.1	87	3.4
1990	81	3.1	87	3.3
1991	162	6.4	189	7.4
1992	286	11.5	321	12.7
1993	397	16.1	434	17.3
1994	404	16.4	446	17.9
1995	388	15.6	421	16.7
1996	366	14.7	400	15.8
1997	314	12.6	367	14.5
1st quarter of 1998	293	12.1	336	13.6

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Unemployment rate according to the new and old statistical practices in January - April 1998, %
	New practice		Old practice
	Unemployment rate	Seasonally adjusted trend	Unemployment rate	Seasonally adjusted trend
January	12.0	11.8	13.8	13.0
February	11.8	11.8	13.2	13.0
March	12.4	11.9	13.7	12.9
April	12.6	11.9	14.3	12.9

Source: Labour Force Statistics. Statistics Finland