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

Number of hours worked decreased slightly

In the third quarter of 2024, the average number of employed persons was 2,623,000 (margin of error ±18,000), or 18,000 fewer than in the corresponding quarter of 2023.

The number of hours worked by employed persons in the third quarter of 2024 was 966.5 million hours, which was 1.0 per cent lower than a year ago.

In the third quarter of 2024, the number of employed persons increased most in human health and social work activities (Q) and decreased most in wholesale and retail trade (G) compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Share of persons working part-time was nearly the same as one year previously

In the third quarter of 2024, the number of part-time employed persons was 474,000, which was 18.1 per cent of all employed persons. The share was 0.2 percentage points bigger than one year ago.

Altogether 116,000 or 24.5 per cent of them worked part-time because full-time work was not available. There were 8,000 more persons belonging to this group than in the corresponding period one year before.

More unemployed persons than one year ago

The average number of unemployed persons in the third quarter of 2024 was 223,000 (margin of error ±12,000), which was 28,000 more than in the July to September period of 2023. The unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2024 was 7.8 per cent, having been 6.9 per cent one year earlier.

In July to September 2024, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,307,000, which was 11,000 fewer than a year earlier.