Fewer employed persons and more unemployed persons in the first quarter of 2026 compared to one year ago

Number of employed persons fell slightly from the previous year

In the first quarter of 2026, the average number of employed persons aged 15 to 74 was 2,536,000 (margin of error ±17,000), which was 8,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2025.

The number of hours worked by employed persons was 981.2 million hours in the first quarter of 2026, which was 1.2 per cent lower than one year ago.

In the first quarter of 2026, the number of employed persons decreased most in information and communication (J) and manufacturing (C) and increased most in accommodation and food service activities (I) compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Share of part-time employed almost the same

In the first quarter of 2026, the number of part-time employed persons was 493,000, which was 19.4 per cent of all employed persons. The share was 0.2 percentage points higher than in the year before.

Altogether 133,000 or 26.9 per cent of them worked part-time because full-time work was not available. There were 10,000 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 first quarter of 2026 was 306,000 (margin of error ±14,000), which was 34,000 more than in January to March 2025. The unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2026 was 10.8 per cent, having been 9.7 per cent one year earlier.

In January to March 2026, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,332,000, which was 16,000 fewer than one year earlier.