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Published: 26 March 2019

Unemployment decreased and employment increased in February

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of unemployed persons in February 2019 was 200,000, which was 33,000 fewer than one year ago. The number of employed persons was 34,000 higher than a year earlier. The trend of the unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent and the trend of the employment rate 72.5 per cent.

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2009/02–2019/02, persons aged 15–74

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2009/02–2019/02, 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. Find out more about the trend here .

In February 2019, the number of employed persons was 2,504,000 (margin of error ±34,000), which was 34,000 more than a year earlier. There were 17,000 more employed men and also 17,000 more employed women than in February 2018.

In February, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.7 per cent, having been 69.8 per cent one year earlier. From the previous year’s February, the employment rate of men aged 15 to 64 rose by 0.9 percentage points to 71.3 per cent and that of women by 0.9 percentage points to 70.1 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 72.5 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 200,000 unemployed in February 2019 (margin of error ±18,000), which was 33,000 fewer than in one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 113,000 and that of women 87,000.

At 7.4 per cent, the unemployment rate in February was 1.2 percentage points lower than one year earlier. The unemployment rate of men decreased from the previous year by 0.6 percentage points to 8.1 per cent, and that of women by 1.9 percentage points to 6.7 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent.

In February, there were a total of 616,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 242,000 were employed and 59,000 were unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed, was 301,000. In February, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 19.7 per cent, which was 1.5 percentage points lower than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 16.0 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 9.6 per cent.

There were 1,423,000 persons in the inactive population in February 2019, which was the same as one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 114,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 33,000 fewer than in February 2018.

Changes in employment 2018/02 – 2019/02 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2018/02 2019/02 2018/02 - 2019/02
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 125 4 127 0,0
Active population total 2 702 2 704 0,1
Employed 2 469 2 504 1,4
– employees 2 134 2 154 1,0
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 336 349 4,1
Unemployed 233 200 –14,0
Inactive population 1 423 1 423 0,0
– persons in disguised unemployment 147 114 –22,8
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 69,8 70,7 0,9
Unemployment rate 8,6 7,4 –1,2
Activity rate 65,5 65,5 0,0
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 February 2019, there were altogether 246,000 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 30,000 lower than in February last year.

Unemployment fell in February from the corresponding period in 2018 in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in Kainuu (-15%), North Karelia (-15%), Southeast Finland (-14%), Ostrobothnia (-14%), Pirkanmaa (-13%) and North Ostrobothnia (-13%). At the end of February, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 16,000, which was 1,000 fewer than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 126,000 at the end of February, which was equal to February of the year before. Altogether, 4.7 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 30,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 3,000 lower than in the previous year's February. During this February, 78,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 9,000 more than in February last year.

Changes 2018/02–2019/02 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2018/02 2019/02 2018/02 - 2019/02
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 276 246 –11,0
– unemployed over a year 86 65 –25,2
Services, total 126 126 –0,2
– employed 25 24 –2,3
– in labour market training, in training 21 23 7,0
– engaged in work/training trials 12 10 –16,5
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 68 69 1,1
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 69 78 12,5
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, www.tem.fi/en/employment-bulletin

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

Job vacancy survey

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU and
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 2019, February. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kirsi Toivonen 029 551 3535, Pertti Taskinen 029 551 2690, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (453.5 kB)

Tables

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Appendix tables

Figures
Quality descriptions

Updated 26.03.2019

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. February 2019. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 5.11.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2019/02/tyti_2019_02_2019-03-26_tie_001_en.html