Number of unemployed persons grew in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to one year ago

Number of employed persons grew slightly from the previous year

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the average number of employed persons aged 15 to 74 was 2,578,000 (margin of error ±18,000), which was 6,000 more than in the corresponding period of 2024.

The number of hours worked by employed persons was 1,039.0 million hours in the fourth quarter of 2025, which was 0.4 per cent higher than one year ago.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the number of employed persons decreased most in information and communication (J) and increased most in professional, scientific and technical activities (M) and administrative and support service activities (N) compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Share of part-time employed increased

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the number of part-time employed persons was 519,000, which was 20.1 per cent of all employed persons. The share was 1.4 percentage points higher than in the year before.

Altogether 134,000 or 25.9 per cent of them worked part-time because full-time work was not available. There were 16,000 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 aged 15 to 74 in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 276,000 (margin of error ±13,000), which was 50,000 more than in October to December 2024. The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 9.7 per cent, having been 8.1 per cent one year earlier.

In October to December 2025, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,318,000, which was 45,000 fewer than one year earlier.