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Published: 26 January 2010

Number of employed goes on falling, growing number not in the labour force

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 86,000 fewer persons employed in December 2009 than in December 2008. The number of unemployed persons increased by 44,000 and the unemployment rate went up by 1.8 percentage points from twelve months back. The number of persons not in the labour force was 62,000 higher in December 2009 than one year earlier. The average annual unemployment rate in 2009 was 8.2 per cent, or nearly two percentage points higher than in 2008 when it stood at 6.4 percentage points.

Employed and trend of employed 1989/01 – 2009/12

Employed and trend of employed 1989/01 – 2009/12

In December 2009, the number of employed persons was 2,410,000, which was 86,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 62,000 fewer employed men and 24,000 fewer employed women than in December 2008. The number of wage and salary earners fell but that of self-employed persons stayed nearly unchanged. The number of employed persons decreased in the Provinces of Southern, Western and Eastern Finland.

In December, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.0 per cent, which was 2.6 percentage points lower than one year before. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 67.3 per cent. Men’s employment rate fell by 3.7 percentage points to 66.9 per cent and women’s by 1.5 percentage points to 67.0 per cent from December of the year before.

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 206,000 unemployed in December 2009, i.e. 44,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men grew by 34,000 and that of unemployed women by 11,000.

At 7.9 per cent, the unemployment rate was 1.8 percentage points higher in December than one year earlier. The trend of the unemployment rate was 9.0 per cent in December. The unemployment rate for men rose by 2.6 percentage points to 8.7 per cent, and that for women by 0.9 percentage points to seven per cent. In December 2009, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 20.2 per cent, which was 7.8 percentage points higher than in the previous year’s December. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 23.7 per cent. The unemployment rate was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, where it stood at 6.3 per cent, and highest, at 10.6 per cent, in the Province of Eastern Finland.

In December 2009, there were 1,418,000 persons of working age not in the labour force, which was 62,000 more than one year earlier.

Changes in the labour force 2009/12 – 2008/12 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey

  Year/Month Change
2009/12 2008/12 2009/12 - 2008/12
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Population aged 15-74 4 034 4 014 0,5
Labour force, total 2 616 2 658 –1,6
Employed, total 2 410 2 497 –3,5
– employees 2 079 2 161 –3,8
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 332 336 –1,3
Unemployed persons 206 162 27,5
Total persons not in labour force 1 418 1 356 4,6
  Per cent (%) Percentage points
Employment rate (persons aged 15 to 64), % 67,0 69,5 –2,6
Unemployment rate, % 7,9 6,1 1,8
Labour force participation rate, % 64,9 66,2 –1,4
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey data for the fourth quarter

The average number of employed persons in the fourth quarter of 2009 was 2,408,000, or 102,000 lower than in the corresponding quarter of 2008. The activity groups of manufacturing (-38,000 employed) and construction (-11,000 employed) accounted for approximately one-half of the reduction in employment. Other activities where employment was clearly declining were sale of motor vehicles (-11,000 employed), wholesale trade (-10,000 employed) and professional, scientific and technical consulting (-9,000 employed).

In the last quarter of the year the average number of unemployed persons was 215,000, or 56,000 higher than in the October to December period of 2008. The unemployment rate of the last quarter of the year rose by 2.2 percentage points from the respective time period of 2008 and was 8.2 per cent, or the same as the annual average for 2009.

In the fourth quarter, the hours worked by the employed persons decreased by around 58 million, or by 5.4 per cent when compared with the respective time period of 2008. The number of hours worked per employed person fell in all quarters of 2009.

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

  Year/Quarter Change
2009/IV 2008/IV 2009/IV - 2008/IV
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Labour force, total 2 623 2 669 –1,7
Employed, total 2 408 2 509 –4,1
Unemployed, total 215 159 35,0
– men 119 81 48,2
– women 96 79 21,6
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey annual averages for 2009

In 2009, the average number of employed persons was 2,457,000, which was 74,000 lower than in 2008. The number of employed men fell by 60,000 and that of employed women by 14,000. In 2009, the rate of employment was 68.3 per cent, having been 70.6 per cent in 2008.

The unemployment rate in 2009 was 8.2 per cent. In 2008 the unemployment rate was 6.4 per cent and in 2007 6.9 per cent. In 2009, the average number of unemployed persons was 221,000, which was 49,000 higher than in 2008.

The number of hours worked by employed persons was approximately 6 per cent lower in 2009 than in 2008. At the same time, the number of employed persons fell by 2.9 per cent, so the amount of labour input per employed person has contracted clearly. In 2008, the average annual number of hours worked by an employed person was 1,664, but in 2009 the respective figure was 1,611 hours per year.

Key Labour Force Survey figures for 2009 can be found in the time series tables of the Labour Force Survey at: http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tau.html .

The way of publishing annual data from the Labour force Survey is being revised. The reporting of annual data will be divided between several releases, and the first one, a general overview of annual data concerning 2009 will be published on 16 February. A review of changes in working hours and employment relationships will be published in June. A printed yearbook will be published in the autumn.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

At the end of December 2009, there were altogether 301,000 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 67,000 higher than in December 2008.

Unemployment grew from the previous year in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres apart from that of Kainuu. The number of unemployed job seekers increased most in Varsinais-Suomi (47%), Uusimaa (44%) and Pirkanmaa (38%). At the end of December, the number of temporarily laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 40,000, which was 17,000 higher than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons covered by labour market policy measures totalled 75,000 the end of December, which was 1,000 lower than in December of the year before. Altogether 2.9 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy measures.

There were 37,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 11,000 higher than in December of the year before. During past December, 26,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 1,000 fewer than in December 2008.

Changes 2009/12 – 2008/12 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

  Year/Month Change
2009/12 2008/12 2009/12 - 2008/12
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Unemployed job seekers 301 234 28,6
– unemployed over a year 47 42 13,2
Total measures 75 76 –1,0
– employed with subsidised measures 31 35 –12,3
– in labour market training 29 26 12,2
– in trainee and job alternation places 15 14 2,7
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 26 27 –4,5
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, December. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kalle Sinivuori (09) 1734 3524, Juha Martikainen (09) 1734 3225, Anna Pärnänen (09) 1734 2607, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

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Updated 26.01.2010

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. December 2009. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 18.4.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2009/12/tyti_2009_12_2010-01-26_tie_001_en.html