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Published: 24 November 2009

Number of employed 119,000 lower than one year ago

The number of employed persons was 119,000 lower in October 2009 than in October 2008. The rate of employment fell by 3.5 percentage points. The number of unemployed persons increased by 60,000 and the unemployment rate went up by 2.4 percentage points from twelve months back.

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 1989/01 – 2009/10

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, in October 2009 the number of employed persons was 2,403,000, or 119,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 81,000 fewer employed men and 38,000 fewer employed women than in October 2008. The number of both wage and salary earners and self-employed fell. The number of employed persons decreased in the Provinces of Southern, Western and Eastern Finland.

In October, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 66.7 per cent, which was 3.5 percentage points lower than one year before. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 67.2 per cent. From last year’s October, men’s employment rate fell by 4.5 percentage points to 67.3 per cent and women’s by 2.4 percentage points to 66.2 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 215,000 unemployed in October 2009, i.e. 60,000 more than in October of the year before. The number of unemployed men grew by 33,000 and that of unemployed women by 27,000.

At 8.2 per cent, the unemployment rate was 2.4 percentage points higher in October than one year earlier. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.7 per cent in October. The unemployment rate for men rose by 2.7 percentage points to 8.7 per cent, and that for women by 2.1 percentage points to 7.7 per cent. In October 2009, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 19.6 per cent, which was 3.4 percentage points higher than in the previous year’s October. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 21.3 per cent. The unemployment rate was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, where it stood at 7.0 per cent, and highest, at 11.8 per cent, in the Province of Eastern Finland.

In October, there were 1,413,000 persons of working age not in the labour force, which was 79,000 more than one year earlier.

Changes in the labour force 2009/10 – 2008/10 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey

	Year/Month		Change
	2009/10	2008/10	2009/10 - 2008/10
	1000 persons		Per cent (%)
Population aged 15-74	4 031	4 011	0,5
Labour force, total	2 618	2 677	–2,2
Employed, total	2 403	2 522	–4,7
– employees	2 081	2 192	–5,1
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers	322	329	–2,3
Unemployed persons	215	155	38,6
Total persons not in labour force	1 413	1 334	5,9
	Per cent (%)		Percentage points
Employment rate (persons aged 15 to 64), %	66,7	70,2	–3,5
Unemployment rate, %	8,2	5,8	2,4
Labour force participation rate, %	64,9	66,7	–1,8
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column. The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

At the end of October 2009, there were altogether 270,000 persons registered, in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act and the Employment Office Regulations, as job seekers at the employment and economic development offices . The number of unemployed job seekers was 77,000 higher than in October 2008. Unemployment grew from the previous year in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres. The number of unemployed job seekers increased most in Varsinais-Suomi (60%), Uusimaa (55%) and South Ostrobothnia (55%). At the end of October, the number of temporarily laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 31,000, which was 23,000 higher than twelve months earlier. The total number of persons covered by labour market policy measures was 83,000 the end of October, which was 3,000 lower than in October of the year before. Altogether 3.2 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy measures. There were 34,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 13,000 higher than in last year's October. During this October, 28,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which is 11,000 fewer than in October 2008.

Changes 2009/10 – 2008/10 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

	Year/Month		Change
	2009/10	2008/10	2009/10 - 2008/10
	1000 persons		Per cent (%)
Unemployed job seekers	270	193	40,0
– unemployed over a year	43	41	4,2
Total measures	83	86	–3,6
– employed with subsidised measures	32	38	–14,7
– in labour market training	33	31	6,6
– in trainee and job alternation places	18	18	2,2
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices	28	39	–28,8
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

Contact information for the Ministry of Employment and the Economy:
Mr Petri Syvänen, tel. +359 10 604 8050, http://www.tem.fi/employmentbulletin

Links

Tables of the Labour Force Survey: http://stat.fi/til/tyti/tau_en.html

Differences between the Labour Force Survey and the Employment Service Statistics are explained in the quality description of the Labour Force Survey.

About seasonally adjusted trend (in Finnish only): http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2007-06-19_men_003.html .

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU  can be found under the theme of Population and social conditions on Eurostat's home page http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu.

Job vacancy survey : http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/atp/index_en.html

Source: Labour force survey 2009, October. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Heidi Melasniemi-Uutela (09) 1734 2523, Veli Rajaniemi (09) 1734 3434, Olga Kambur (09) 1734 3565, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

Publication in pdf-format (440.4 kB)

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Appendix tables

• 1.1 Key indicators in the Labour Force Survey by sex 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 1.2 Population aged 15-74 by labour force status and sex 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 1.3 Population aged 15-74 by sex and age 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 2.1 Labour force participation rate by sex and age 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 2.2 Labour force by sex and age 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 3.1 Employment rate by sex and age 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 3.2 Employed persons by sex and age 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 3.3 Employed persons by status in employment 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 3.4 Employed persons by employer sector 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 3.5 Employed persons by province 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 3.6 Proportion of part-time employed persons in all employed persons by sex 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 3.7 Part-time employed persons by sex 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 4.1 Employees by type of employment relationship (%) 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 4.2 Employees by type of employment relationship 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 5.1 Unemployment rate by sex and age 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 5.2 Unemployed persons by sex and age 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 5.3 Unemployment rate by province 2009/10 - 2008/10 (24.11.2009)
• 6.1 Seasonally adjusted trends 2009/10 (24.11.2009)

Figures

• 1.1 Employed persons, trend and original series (24.11.2009)
• 1.2 Employment rate, trend and original series (24.11.2009)
• 2.1 Unemployed persons, trend and original series (24.11.2009)
• 2.2 Unemployment rate, trend and original series (24.11.2009)

Quality descriptions

• Quality Description: Labour force survey (24.11.2009)

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Updated 24.11.2009