Home > Statistics > Job vacancy survey > 2018 > 1st quarter > Nearly as many open job vacancies in the first quarter of 2018 as one year earlier

Published: 18 May 2018

Nearly as many open job vacancies in the first quarter of 2018 as one year earlier

There were 60,100 open job vacancies in the first quarter of 2018, while the figure was 58,000 one year before. These data derive from Statistics Finland's Job Vacancy Survey and describe the situation on the 1st of March.

Job vacancies 2017/I – 2018/I

	Year/Quarter
	2017/I		2018/I
	Number	Share, %	Number	Share, %
Job vacancies	58 000		60 100
Part-time	13 000	22	15 700	26
Fixed term	33 200	57	29 400	49
Hard-to-fill vacancies	16 900	29	27 100	45
The sub-groups are not mutually exclusive so their sum does not correspond with the total number of open job vacancies.

In the first quarter of 2018, in all, 43,000 or 72 per cent of the job vacancies were in establishments owned by private enterprises. One year earlier, the number of job vacancies in the private sector was 45,500 or 78 per cent of all open job vacancies. Compared with the year before, the number of open job vacancies increased most in the major region of Helsinki-Uusimaa. When examined by the industry of the establishment, job vacancies increased most in the industry group of public administration, education, human health and social work activities (O-Q), and decreased in manufacturing, mining and quarrying and other industry (B-E). The decrease in open job vacancies in manufacturing is, at least in part, explained by the high level one year ago and the magnitude of random variation related to the sample in the first quarter when many large establishments are looking for a lot of summer workers.

In the first quarter, employers estimated that 45 per cent of the open job vacancies were hard-to-fill, while the corresponding share one year earlier was 29 per cent. For example, establishments in transportation and storage, construction and human health and social work activities had plenty of jobs considered hard to fill. Of all open vacancies, 26 per cent were part-time and 49 per cent fixed-term jobs. The share of fixed-term jobs is usually high in the first quarter due to the search for summer employees, for example. There were plenty of fixed-term jobs available in establishments of trade and human health and social work activities, for instance.

Statistics Finland has been collecting data on open job vacancies quarterly since 2002. The inquiry is directed to persons responsible for recruitment in private and public sector establishments . The data provider can respond either using the web questionnaire or through a telephone interview. The data collection includes approximately 2,500 different establishments in every quarter. The statistics are based on Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The objective is to produce up-to-date and comparable information about the number and structure of job openings on the labour markets of EU Member States.

More information about open job vacancies is available in the appendix tables of this release and in the database tables of the statistics. The figures in the tables are rounded, for which reason the sums do not always match to the totals. The accuracy of figures and standard errors are explained in the quality description of the statistical release (only in Finnish).

Latest data on open job vacancies published by the EU can be found on Eurostat's home page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat .

Source: Job vacancy survey 2018, 1st quarter. Statistics Finland.

Inquiries: Minna Wallenius 029 551 2749, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (252.5 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

• Database tables and their variables
• Archived tables

Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Job vacancies by the quarters 2017/I - 2018/I (18.5.2018)
• Appendix table 2. Job vacancies by size of the establishment 2017/I - 2018/I (18.5.2018)
• Appendix table 3. Job vacancies by employer sector of the establishment 2017/I - 2018/I (18.5.2018)
• Appendix table 4. Job vacancies by location (major region 2012) of the establishment 2017/I - 2018/I (18.5.2018)
• Appendix table 5. Job vacancies by industry (TOL 2008) of the establishment 2017/I - 2018/I (18.5.2018)

Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Job vacancies by quarter (18.5.2018)
• Appendix figure 2. Job vacancies by quarter by type of employment relationship (18.5.2018)

---

Updated 18.5.2018