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Published: 23 May 2018

Unemployment decreased in April from one year back

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 48,000 higher in April than one year ago. The number of unemployed persons in April 2018 was 233,000, which was 45,000 lower than one year ago. The unemployment rate declined by 1.7 percentage points to 8.6 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.0 per cent in April.

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2008/04–2018/04, persons aged 15–74

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2008/04–2018/04, persons aged 15–74

Unemployment and employment vary quite considerably by month and the change from the observation of the previous month mainly describes the seasonal aspect rather than the trend in development. Thus the latest statistical data are compared to the corresponding period of the year before. By contrast, the figures of the trend series that are adjusted for seasonal and random variation are mutually comparable and phenomena associated with long-term development and cyclical changes are thus more easily observable from the trend of the time series.

The trend usually changes somewhat when the data of the following month are included in the time series. This preliminary nature of trend figures should be taken into account when making conclusions. The figures reported in this release are not adjusted for seasonal variation unless separately mentioned that they concern the trend. You can read more about the trend here (only in Finnish).

In April 2018, the number of employed persons was 2,491,000 (margin of error ±34,000), which was 48,000 more than a year earlier. There were 15,000 more employed men and 33,000 more employed women than in April 2017.

In April 2017, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.1 per cent, having been 68.6 per cent one year earlier. From last year’s April, men’s employment rate rose by 0.8 percentage points to 70.1 per cent and women’s by 2.2 percentage points to 70.0 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 71.0 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 233,000 unemployed (margin of error ±19,000) in April 2018, i.e. 45,000 fewer than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 131,000 and that of women 102,000.

At 8.6 per cent, the unemployment rate in April was 1.7 percentage points lower than one year earlier. The unemployment rate for men decreased by 1.3 percentage points to 9.3 per cent, and that of women by 2.0 percentage points to 7.7 per cent year-on-year. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.0 per cent.

The number of young people aged 15 to 24 was 621,000 in April. Of them, 237,000 were employed and 73,000 unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 310,000. In April, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 23.6 per cent, which was 3.9 percentage points lower than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 18.2 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 11.8 per cent.

There were 1,397,000 people in the inactive population in April 2018, which was 10,000 more than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 114,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 5,000 fewer than in April 2017.

Changes in employment 2017/04 – 2018/04 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2017/04 2018/04 2017/04 - 2018/04
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 109 4 122 0,3
Active population total 2 722 2 725 0,1
Employed 2 443 2 491 2,0
– employees 2 120 2 153 1,6
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 323 338 4,7
Unemployed 279 233 –16,3
Inactive population 1 387 1 397 0,7
– Persons in disguised unemployment 119 114 –3,9
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 68,6 70,1 1,5
Unemployment rate 10,2 8,6 –1,7
Activity rate 66,2 66,1 –0,1
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

At the end of April 2018, there were altogether 255,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as unemployed job seekers at the employment and economic development offices . The number of unemployed job seekers was 50,000 lower than in April 2017.

Unemployment fell in April from the corresponding period in 2017 in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in Pirkanmaa (-22%), Satakunta (-21%), Ostrobothnia (-20%) and of Northern Ostrobothnia (-20%). At the end of April, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 12,000, which was 5,000 fewer than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 132,000 at the end of April, which was 4,000 more than in April of the year before. Altogether, 4.8 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 31,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 5,000 lower than in last year's April. During this April, 60,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which is 14,000 more than in April 2017.

Changes 2017/04–2018/04 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2017/04 2018/04 2017/04 - 2018/04
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 304 255 –16,3
– unemployed over a year 109 81 –26,2
Services, total 128 132 3,3
– employed 23 26 9,7
– in labour market training, in training 25 23 –5,0
– engaged in work/training trials 12 13 2,0
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 67 70 4,4
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 46 60 29,9
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

Contact information for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment:
Petri Syvänen tel. +358 29 504 8050, http://www.temtyollisyyskatsaus.fi

Links

Labour Force Survey tables in databases

About seasonally adjusted trend

The accuracy of figures and the margins of error are explained in the quality description of the Labour Force Survey .

Comparison between the employment statistics of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU can be found on Eurostat's home page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Job vacancy survey

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


Source: Labour force survey 2018, April. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Henri Lukkarinen 029 551 3704, Pertti Taskinen 029 551 2690, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (452.5 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

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

Appendix tables

Figures
Quality descriptions

Updated 23.05.2018

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. April 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 16.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2018/04/tyti_2018_04_2018-05-23_tie_001_en.html