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Published: 2 March 2021

Number of employed persons decreased from the year before

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 61,000 lower in January 2021 than one year before. There were 41,000 more unemployed than in January 2020.

Changes in employment 2020/01 – 2021/01 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

	Year/Month		Change
	2020/01	2021/01	2020/01 - 2021/01
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Population total	4 132	4 127	–0,1
Active population total	2 727	2 707	–0,7
Employed	2 534	2 473	–2,4
Unemployed	194	235	21,0
Inactive population	1 404	1 420	1,1
	Per cent, %		Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64	71,9	69,9	–2,0
Unemployment rate	7,1	8,7	1,6
Activity rate	66,0	65,6	–0,4
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column. The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

The data content, data collection and estimation method of the Labour Force Survey are revised at the beginning of 2021. The data concerning January 2021 may later become revised due to the adjustment of the estimation method. Due to the revision, only the key indicators concerning the labour market are published in this release, and trend figures are not published.

For the comparison, the data for January 2020 were calculated retrospectively with the new estimation method and they differ from the previously released data. The data for January 2020 may also become revised later.

Preliminary data concerning January 2021 will not be uploaded to Statistics Finland's free StatFin database or to the chargeable Astika database.

Final data will be released in connection with the release of data for March and the first quarter of 2021.

In January 2021, the number of employed persons was 2,473,000 (margin of error ±31,000), which was 61,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 30,000 fewer employed men and 31,000 fewer employed women than in January 2020.

In January, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 69.9 per cent, having been 71.9 per cent one year earlier. The employment rate of men aged 15 to 64 fell by 1.8 percentage points to 70.2 per cent and that of women fell by 2.2 percentage points to 69.6 per cent from last year’s January.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 235,000 unemployed (margin of error ±22,000) in January 2021, i.e. 41,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 132,000 and that of women 103,000.

The unemployment rate was 8.7 per cent in January, having been 7.1 per cent in the year before. The unemployment rate for men grew by 1.9 percentage points from last year’s January to 9.4 per cent. Women's unemployment rate rose by 1.2 percentage points to 7.9 per cent.

There were 1,420,000 persons in the inactive population in January 2021, which was 15,000 more than one year earlier.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

At the end of January 2021, there were altogether 333,000 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 81,000 higher than in January last year.

Unemployment rose in January from the corresponding period of the previous year in the areas of all Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment: most in Uusimaa (56%), Southwest Finland (32%), Lapland (32%), and Ostrobothnia (29%). The number of unemployed job seekers grew least in Kainuu (7%), South Savo (12%), North Karelia (13%) and Southeast Finland (13%). At the end of January, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 58,000, which was 39,000 more than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 112,000 at the end of January, which was 4,000 fewer than in January of the previous year. Altogether, 4.1 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 40,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 9,000 higher than in last year's January. During this January, 84,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 9,000 fewer than in January last year.

Changes 2020/01–2021/01 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

	Year/Month		Change
	2020/01	2021/01	2020/01 - 2021/01
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers	252	333	32,2
– unemployed over a year	63	93	47,3
Services, total	116	112	–3,1
– employed	22	23	1,5
– in labour market training, in training	22	25	13,3
– engaged in work/training trials	8	6	–24,6
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit	63	58	–7,9
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices	93	84	–9,9
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, Employment bulletin

Links

Publication and dissemination of Labour Force Survey data in the early part of 2021

How and why is the Labour Force Survey renewed from the beginning of 2021?

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 2021, January. Statistics Finland

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

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Updated 02.03.2021