Fewer employed persons and more unemployed persons in May 2024 compared to one year ago

Number of employed men decreased from the previous year

In May 2024, the number of employed aged 15 to 74 was 2,645,000 (margin of error ±29,000), which was 35,000 fewer than a year earlier. There were 38,000 fewer employed men and almost as many employed women as in May last year.

In May, the employment rate of persons aged 20 to 64, that is, the share of the employed among the population of the same age, stood at 77.8 per cent, having been 79.5 per cent in this age group one year earlier. The employment rate of men aged 20 to 64 fell by 2.6 percentage points to 77.1 per cent and the employment rate of women fell by 0.6 percentage points to 78.6 per cent from one year ago.

The employment rate of persons aged 20 to 69 fell by 1.2 percentage points from last year's May to 72.3 per cent.

Unemployment grew compared to the previous year

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 299,000 unemployed (margin of error ±24,000) aged 15 to 74 in May 2024, which was 33,000 higher than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 168,000 and that of unemployed women 131,000.

In May, the unemployment rate of persons aged 15 to 74, or the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force stood at 10.2 per cent, having been 9.0 per cent one year earlier. The unemployment rate of men stood at 11.2 per cent, which was 1.4 percentage points higher than one year previously. The unemployment rate of women stood at 9.1 per cent, which was 0.9 percentage points more than one year before.

In May, the share of the unemployed aged 15 to 24 among the labour force stood at 30.3 per cent, which was 2.9 percentage points more than one year earlier. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 18.4 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 19.4 per cent.

Key indicators of the labour force survey in May 2023 and 2024

More men in the inactive population than a year ago

There were 1,207,000 persons aged 15 to 74 in the inactive population in May 2024, which was 27,000 more than one year earlier. There were 33,000 more men and 5,000 fewer women in the inactive population than one year earlier.

Population aged 15 to 74 by labour force status in May 2023 and 2024

Seasonally adjusted trend

Employment and unemployment vary quite much by month and the change from the observation of the previous month mainly describes the seasonal aspect rather than the trend in development. For that reason, the latest statistical data are compared to the corresponding period of the year before.

By contrast, the figures of the trend series that are adjusted for seasonal and random variation are mutually comparable and phenomena associated with long-term development and cyclical changes are thus more easily observable from the trend of the time series.

The trend usually changes somewhat when the data of the following month are included in the time series. Therefore, only the last published time series should be used when using the trend figures. The preliminary nature of the latest trend figures should be considered when making conclusions.

The fall in employment in spring 2020 was interpreted as a level shift in the seasonal adjustment model. The figures reported in this release are not adjusted for seasonal variation unless separately mentioned that they concern the trend.

Links

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s Employment bulletin

Comparison between the employment statistics of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (PDF)