Employment weakened and unemployment grew in the second quarter of 2024 compared to one year ago

release 23/07/2024 | Labour force survey 2024, 2nd quarter

According to Statistics Finland's labour force survey, the number of employed persons was 36,000 lower in the second quarter of 2024 than in the corresponding period of 2023. There were 39,000 more unemployed persons.

Population aged 15 to 74 by labour force status in the second quarter of 2023 and 2024

	2023/Q2, 1000 persons	2024/Q2, 1000 persons	Change, 2023/Q2 - 2024/Q2, 1000 persons	Change, 2023/Q2 - 2024/Q2, %
Population total	4 126	4 150	24	0,6
Active population total	2 910	2 913	3	0,1
- employed	2 679	2 643	-36	-1,3
- unemployed	232	270	39	16,8
Inactive population	1 215	1 236	21	1,7

Key selections

The average number of employed persons in the second quarter of 2024 was 2,643,000, which was 36,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2023.
There were 20,000 fewer employed men and 16,000 fewer employed women than in second quarter of 2023.
The number of employed persons increased most in human health and social work activities (Q) and decreased most in professional, scientific and technical activities (M), administrative and support service activities (N) and construction (F).
In April to June 2024, the number of hours worked by employed persons increased by 0.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

Number of hours worked increased slightly

In the second quarter of 2024, the average number of employed persons was 2,643,000 (margin of error ±18,000), which was 36,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2023.

The number of hours worked by employed persons was 1,046.8 million hours in the second quarter of 2024, which was 0.8 per cent more than one year back.

In the second quarter of 2024, the number of employed persons increased most in human health and social work activities (Q) and decreased most in professional, scientific and technical activities (M), administrative and support service activities (N) and construction (F) compared to the corresponding period of the year before.

Share of part-time employed almost the same as one year previously

In the second quarter of 2024, the number of part-time employed persons was 475,000, which was 18.0 per cent of all employed. The share was 0.1 percentage points lower than in the year before.

Of part-time employed persons, 122,000, or 25.6 per cent, worked part-time because full-time work was not available. The number of persons in this group increased by 14,000 compared to the corresponding period of the year before.

More unemployed persons than one year ago

The average number of unemployed persons in the second quarter of 2024 was 270,000 (margin of error ±14,000), which was 39,000 more than in April to June 2023. The unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2024 was 9.3 per cent, having been 8.0 per cent one year earlier.

In April to June 2024, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,236,000, which was 21,000 more than in the previous year.