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Published: 24 January 2020

Employment increased compared with one year ago

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 17,000 higher in December 2019 than one year ago. There were 18,000 more unemployed than in December 2018. The trend of the employment rate was 73.0 per cent and the trend of the unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent. The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter was 6.0 per cent, which was unchanged from October to December 2018. In 2019, the employment rate was 72.6 per cent, having been 71.7 per cent in 2018.

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2009/12–2019/12, persons aged 15–64

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2009/12–2019/12, 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 considered 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 .

The trend of the employment rate was 73.0 per cent in December and the trend of the unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent. Based on seasonally adjusted data for December, the trend of the employment rate has risen a bit and the trend of the unemployment rate has remained unchanged in recent months.

In December 2019, the number of employed persons was 2,570,000 (margin of error ±33,000), which was 17,000 more than a year earlier. There were 11,000 fewer employed men and 28,000 more employed women than in December 2018.

In December, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 73.0 per cent, having been 72.1 per cent one year earlier. From the previous year’s December, the employment rate of men aged 15 to 64 fell by 0.4 percentage points to 73.4 per cent and that of women rose by 2.4 percentage points to 72.6 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 164,000 unemployed in December 2019 (margin of error ±18,000), i.e. 18,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 87,000 and that of women 77,000.

The unemployment rate was 6.0 per cent in December, having been 5.4 per cent in the year before. The unemployment rate for men rose by 1.0 percentage points from the previous year’s December to 6.1 per cent. Women's unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent and it remained almost unchanged compared with December 2018.

In December, there were a total of  611,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 251,000 were employed and 44,000 unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed, was 294,000. In December, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 14.8 per cent, which was 5.5 percentage points higher 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 7.1 per cent.

There were 1,398,000 in the inactive population in December 2019, which was 31,000 fewer than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 115,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 5,000 fewer than in December 2018.

Changes in employment 2018/12 – 2019/12 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2018/12 2019/12 2018/12 - 2019/12
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 127 4 132 0,1
Active population total 2 698 2 734 1,3
Employed 2 553 2 570 0,7
– employees 2 225 2 201 –1,1
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 328 369 12,5
Unemployed 146 164 12,5
Inactive population 1 429 1 398 –2,2
– Persons in disguised unemployment 120 115 –4,0
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 72,1 73,0 1,0
Unemployment rate 5,4 6,0 0,6
Activity rate 65,4 66,2 0,8
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey data for the fourth quarter of 2019

The average number of employed persons in the fourth quarter of  2019 (October to December) was 2,557,000, or 16,000 more than in the corresponding quarter of 2018. The number of employed persons increased most in human health and social work activities (Q) and in administrative and support service activities (N).

The number of hours actually worked by employed persons was 0.2 per cent lower in the fourth quarter of  2019 than twelve months previously.

The average number of unemployed persons in the fourth quarter of  2019 was 164,000, which was 3,000 more than in the October to December period of 2018. The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2019 was 6.0 per cent, which was the same as in the respective period of  2018.

In the fourth quarter of  2019, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,410,000, which was 15,000 fewer than a year earlier. Of the inactive population, 120,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 8,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of  2018.

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

  Year/Quarter Change
2018/IV 2019/IV 2018/IV - 2019/IV
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Active population total 2 702 2 721 0,7
Employed persons total 2 541 2 557 0,6
Unemployed total 162 164 1,6
– men 89 92 3,2
– women 72 72 –0,3
Inactive population 1 424 1 410 –1,0
– Persons in disguised unemployment 128 120 –6,2
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey annual averages for 2019

In 2019, the average number of employed persons was 2,566,000, which was 26,000 more than in 2018. In 2019, the employment rate was 72.6 per cent, having been 71.7 per cent in 2018.

The unemployment rate was, on average, 6.7 per cent in 2019, having been 7.4 per cent in 2018. In 2019, the average number of unemployed persons was 184,000, which was 18,000 lower than in the year before.

The number of hours actually worked by employed persons was 0.2 per cent higher in 2019 than in 2018. The amount of labour input or annual hours actually worked per employed person fell slightly from 2018.

The annual averages from the Labour Force Survey for the year 2019 are published in the appendix tables of this publication and in the database tables of Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey . A general review on annual data concerning 2019 and on time series data for 2010 to 2019 will be released on 7 May 2020.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

At the end of December 2019, there were altogether 258,000 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 1,000 higher than in December 2018.

Unemployment fell in December from the corresponding period in 2018 in the areas of six Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in South Savo (-6 %), Kainuu (-6%), Lapland (-5 %) and Häme (-4 %). The number of unemployed job seekers increased most in Pirkanmaa (7%), Satakunta (4%) and North Ostrobothnia (3%). At the end of November, the number of persons fully laid off registered at the employment and economic development offices was 22,000, which was 6,000 more than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 111,000 at the end of December, which was 6,000 lower than in December of the previous year. Altogether, 4.1 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 33,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 1,000 lower than in December of the previous year. During last December, 55,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 9,000 more than in December 2018.

Changes 2018/12–2019/12 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2018/12 2019/12 2018/12 - 2019/12
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 257 258 0,5
– unemployed over a year 67 63 –5,7
Services, total 116 111 –4,8
– employed 24 23 –4,6
– in labour market training, in training 20 21 2,9
– engaged in work/training trials 8 7 –19,9
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 64 61 –5,4
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 46 55 20,7
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, 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

The latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU and
the 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, December. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kirsi Toivonen 029 551 3535, Joanna Viinikka 029 551 3796, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (745.4 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 24.1.2020

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. December 2019. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 16.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2019/12/tyti_2019_12_2020-01-24_tie_001_en.html