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Published: 4 May 2021

Number of employed persons in March higher than one year ago

Corrected on 27 July 2021. Up-to-date trend figures can be found in the latest release. The corrections are indicated in red.

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 22,000 higher in March 2021 than one year ago. There were 28,000 more unemployed persons than in March 2020. The trend of the employment rate was 71.1 per cent and the trend of the unemployment rate was 7.7 per cent.

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2011/03–2021/03, persons aged 15–64

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2011/03–2021/03, persons aged 15–64

Employment and unemployment 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. The preliminary nature of the latest trend figures should be considered when making conclusions. The fall in employment in spring 2020 was interpreted as a level shift in the seasonal adjustment model. 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 data content, data collection and estimation method of the Labour Force Survey were revised at the beginning of 2021. Starting from the release for March and the first quarter of 2021, the data according to the new estimation method are final. The most important key figures from the corrected time series are published in the StatFin database service. Other corrected time series will be published during 2021.

The final Labour Force Survey data concerning January and February 2020 and 2021 have been published in connection with the data for March and the 1st quarter. Previously released data were preliminary and they have been revised due to the adjustment of the estimation method.

In March 2021, the number of employed persons was 2,496,000 (margin of ± 30,000), which was 22,000 more than a year earlier. The number of employed men was 21,000 higher and that of employed women was unchanged from March 2020.

In March, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.7 per cent, having been 70.2 per cent one year earlier. From last year’s March, the employment rate of men aged 15 to 64 rose by 0.8 percentage points to 71.3 per cent and that of women by 0.2 percentage points to 70.0 per cent. The employment rate of those aged 20 to 69 was 68.9 per cent, which was the same as one year before.

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, there were 223,000 unemployed in March 2021, which was 28,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 122,000 and that of women 101,000.

In March, the unemployment rate , the proportion of the employed among the labour force stood at 8.2 per cent, having been 7.3 per cent one year earlier. From last year’s March, men’s unemployment rate rose by 0.8 percentage points to 8.6 per cent and women’s by 1.0 percentage points to 7.8 per cent.

In March, the unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 stood at 22.2 per cent, which was 3.8 percentage points lower than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 18.7 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 11.2 per cent.

There were 1,404,000 persons aged 15 to 74 in the inactive population in March 2021, which was 57,000 fewer than the one year earlier.

Changes in employment 2020/03 – 2021/03 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74 (Table was corrected on 27 July 2021.)

  Year/Month Change
2020/03 2021/03 2020/03 - 2021/03
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 130 4 124 –0,2
Active population total 2 669 2 719 1,9
Employed 2 474 2 496 0,9
– employees 2 116 2 121 0,2
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 358 375 4,9
Unemployed 195 223 14,5
Inactive population 1 461 1 404 –3,9
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 70,2 70,7 0,5
Employment rate, persons aged 20–69 68,9 68,9 0,0
Unemployment rate 7,3 8,2 0,9
Activity rate 64,6 65,9 1,3
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey data for the first quarter of 2021

In the first quarter (January to March) of 2021, the average number of employed persons was 2,476,000, or 15,000 fewer than in the corresponding quarter of 2020. The number of employed persons decreased most in transportation and storage (H) and increased most in wholesale and retail trade (G).

The number of hours worked by employed persons was 997.7 million hours in the first quarter of 2021.

The average number of unemployed persons in the first quarter of 2021 was 228,000 , which was 37,000 more than in January to March 2020. The unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2021 was 8.4 per cent, which was 1.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

In the first quarter of 2021, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,422,000 , which was 28,000 fewer than a year earlier.

Changes in employment 2020/I – 2021/I according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74 (Table was corrected on 27 July 2021.)

  Year/Quarter Change
2020/I 2021/I 2020/I - 2021/I
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Active population total 2 681 2 703 0,8
Employed persons total 2 491 2 476 –0,6
Unemployed total 191 228 19,5
– men 107 128 19,4
– women 84 100 19,7
Inactive population 1 450 1 422 –1,9
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 March 2021, there were altogether 332,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as job seekers at the employment and economic development offices and in local government pilots. The number of unemployed job seekers was 22,000 higher than in March last year.

Unemployment rose in March from the corresponding period last year in the areas of five Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment; most in Uusimaa (23%), Häme (9%) and Southwest Finland (7%). The number of unemployed job seekers decreased in the areas of 10 Employment and Economic Development Centres; most in Kainuu (-13%), South Ostrobothnia (-11%) and North Savo (-8%). At the end of March, the number of fully laid off persons was 63,000, which was 3,000 fewer than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 117,000 at the end of March, which was 2,000 fewer than in March of the year before. Altogether, 4.3 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 41,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25. Their number was unchanged from last year’s March. During this March, 78,000 new vacancies were reported, which was 14,000 more than in March last year.

Changes 2020/03–2021/03 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2020/03 2021/03 2020/03 - 2021/03
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 309 332 7,3
– unemployed over a year 65 104 60,3
Services, total 119 117 –1,8
– employed 23 25 8,1
– in labour market training, in training 25 27 9,7
– engaged in work/training trials 8 6 –18,1
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 64 59 –7,8
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 63 78 22,3
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 :

Monthly tables 135y and 135z contain the retrospectively corrected time series that replace monthly tables 11af and 11ag transferred to the archive of the StatFin statistical database.

About seasonally adjusted trend

The accuracy of figures 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 2021, March. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Pertti Taskinen 029 551 2690, Tatu Leskinen 029 551 3285, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

Publication in pdf-format (598.9 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

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Appendix tables

Figures
Quality descriptions
Revisions in these statistics

Updated 04.05.2021

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. March 2021. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 6.11.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2021/03/tyti_2021_03_2021-05-04_tie_001_en.html