Fewer open job vacancies in the first quarter of 2023 than one year earlier

Characteristics of job vacancies

In the first quarter of 2023, altogether 58,900 or 73 per cent of the job vacancies were in establishments owned by private enterprises. Open job vacancies decreased slightly in the private sector compared to one year earlier. The number of open job vacancies decreased most in Southern Finland (- 6,000) and grew or remained more or less unchanged in other major regions.

Examined by the industry of the establishment, changes compared to one year ago were otherwise moderate, but open job vacancies decreased significantly in construction (F). The number of job vacancies also decreased in the industry group of trade, transport and storage, accommodation and food service activities (G–I), but grew in the industry group of public administration, education, health and social work activities (O–Q).

In the first quarter, 44 per cent of all job vacancies were fixed-term, which was seven percentage points higher than in the corresponding period of the year before. The share of part-time jobs in all open job vacancies was 25 per cent, which is slightly more than in the corresponding period last year.

Employers estimated that 49 per cent of the open job vacancies were hard-to-fill, while the corresponding share was 58 per cent one year earlier. For example, there were plenty of jobs considered hard to fill in establishments of human health and social work activities (Q) in the tasks of practical nurses and registered nurses and in the industry group of information and communication (J) in the tasks of software developers.