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Published: 23 October 2018

Unemployment decreased clearly from one year ago

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of unemployed persons in September 2018 was 170,000, which was 44,000 lower than one year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.4 per cent in September. The number of employed people was 72,000 higher in September 2018 than one year ago. The unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2018 was 6.5 per cent, which was 1.1 percentage points lower than in the respective period of 2017.

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2008/09–2018/09, persons aged 15–64

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2008/09–2018/09, persons aged 15–64

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. Find out more about the trend here .

In September 2018, the number of employed persons was 2,533,000 (margin of error ±33,000), which was 72,000 higher than a year earlier. There were 57,000 more employed men and 15,000 more employed women than in September 2017.

In September, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 71.4 per cent, having been 69.3 per cent one year earlier. From September 2017, men’s employment rate rose by 3.2 percentage points to 73.5 per cent and women’s by 0.9 percentage points to 69.1 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 71.7 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 170,000 unemployed (margin of error ±18,000) in September 2018, i.e. 44,000 fewer than the year before. The number of unemployed men was 80,000 and that of women 90,000.

At 6.3 per cent, the unemployment rate was 1.7 percentage points lower in September than one year earlier. The unemployment rate of men decreased by 2.4 percentage points to 5.6 per cent, and that of women by 1.0 percentage points to 7.0 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.4 per cent.

In September, there were a total of 618,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 236,000 were employed and 39,000 unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 275,000. In September, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 14.2 per cent, which was 2.8 percentage points lower than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 17.3 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 6.3 per cent.

There were 1,422,000 persons in the inactive population in September 2018, which was 20,000 fewer than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 129,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 27,000 fewer than in September 2017.

Changes in employment 2017/09 – 2018/09 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2017/09 2018/09 2017/09 - 2018/09
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 117 4 125 0,2
Active population total 2 675 2 703 1,0
Employed 2 461 2 533 2,9
– employees 2 128 2 180 2,4
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 333 352 5,8
Unemployed 214 170 –20,6
Inactive population 1 442 1 422 –1,4
– persons in disguised unemployment 155 129 –17,1
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 69,3 71,4 2,0
Unemployment rate 8,0 6,3 –1,7
Activity rate 65,0 65,5 0,6
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey data for the third quarter of 2018

In the third quarter (July to September) of 2018, the average number of employed persons was 2,577,000, or 70,000 higher than in the corresponding quarter of 2017. The number of employed persons increased most in the industries of wholesale and retail trade (G) and information and communication (J).

The number of hours worked by employed persons increased by 2.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2018 from the corresponding period in 2017.

The average number of unemployed persons in the third quarter of 2018 was 180,000, which was 28,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2017. The rate of unemployment was 6.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2018, which was 1.1 percentage points lower than compared to the corresponding period in 2017.

In the third quarter of 2018, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,367,000, which was 35,000 fewer than a year earlier. Of the inactive population, 122,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 21,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2017.

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

  Year/Quarter Change
2017/III 2018/III 2017/III - 2018/III
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Active population total 2 714 2 757 1,6
Employed persons total 2 506 2 577 2,8
Unemployed total 208 180 –13,5
– men 105 88 –15,9
– women 103 91 –11,0
Inactive population 1 402 1 367 –2,5
– persons in disguised unemployment 142 122 –14,4
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 September 2018, there were altogether 232,000 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 43,000 lower than in last year's September.

Unemployment fell in September from the corresponding period in 2017 in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in Pirkanmaa (–25%), Ostrobothnia (–23%), South Ostrobothnia (–20%), North Ostrobothnia (–18%) and Satakunta (–18%). At the end of September, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 7,000, which was 2,000 fewer than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 127,000 at the end of September, which was 5,000 more than in September of the previous year. Altogether, 4.7 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 29,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 4,000 lower than in last year’s September. During this September, 51,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 1,000 more than in last year's September.

Changes 2017/09–2018/09 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2017/09 2018/09 2017/09 - 2018/09
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 276 232 –15,8
– unemployed over a year 98 70 –28,4
Services, total 122 127 4,2
– employed 25 26 4,9
– in labour market training, in training 20 22 7,9
– engaged in work/training trials 10 10 –2,2
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 66 69 3,8
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 50 51 2,0
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, September. Statistics Finland

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

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (635.3 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 23.10.2018

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. September 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2018/09/tyti_2018_09_2018-10-23_tie_001_en.html