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Concepts and definitions

Fixed-term job

A job vacancy is classified as fixed-term when an ordinary employment contract or a public sector employment contract has a predetermined termination date. An ordinary employment contract or a public sector employment contract valid until further notice is not regarded as fixed-term even if involving a trial period.

Hard-to-fill vacancy

A hard-to-fill vacancy is an open job vacancy during the reference period, that an employer has had difficulty in filling (subjective opinion). For example, despite active measures there have been no applicants or the applicants have not been sufficiently qualified or suitable for the job in question. Despite the difficulties an employee may have been found to fill the vacancy, or the vacancy may have remained unfilled.

Job vacancy

A job vacancy is a completely new job or an existing workplace for which an employer actively seeks an employee. The job must be open for application also to those not working in that establishment, and it is planned to be filled immediately or in near future.

Local kind of activity unit (Establishment)

An establishment, or local kind-of-activity unit, is a production unit owned by one enterprise or quasicorporate unit, located on one site, and producing goods or services of mainly one particular type. Establishments include, e.g., factories, shops, market stalls and kiosks. Establishments within public administration include, e.g., tax offices, municipal libraries and health care centres.

The establishment is a key unit in the application of the Standard Industrial Classification because

• data by establishment gives the best picture of the structure of the economy,
• establishments can be used for collecting data and producing statistics on the activities of enterprises by geographical and administrative area,
• it is fastest and most economical to collect many basic data related to production, such as numbers of items produced and hours worked, directly from establishments,
• establishments make it possible to obtain data by industry on enterprises operating within several industries,
• all statistics on persons describe the distribution of the population by industry or economic activity through establishments.

As an enterprise always operates at some location, it has at least one establishment. Most enterprises have a single establishment while the largest enterprises may have numerous establishments in different parts of the country. Furthermore, these may operate in different economic sectors.

Part-time

A job vacancy is classified as part-time if the employer has reported the job as being part-time. According to the guiding limit, work can also be regarded as part-time if working hours are estimated to be under 30 hours per week.

Unoccupied job

A job vacancy is unoccupied (without an employee), when no-one is attending to the tasks in the statistical reference period or no employee has been assigned to the task, but, for example, other employees of the establishment attend to it jointly beside their own tasks. It can also be a question of a completely new task at the establishment.