Unemployed jobseekers number 212,000 in Dec

The total number of unemployed jobseekers was 212,000 in December, which is 48,000 more than that a year ago, according to the Statistics Finland.

The unemployment rate was 7.8%, or 1.8 percentage points higher than that in the previous year.

In December, the number of people in employment was 74,000 less than that a year ago.

The employment rate was 70.7%, which was 2.3 percentage points lower than in December of the year before.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in a press release on Thursday said that a total of 357,400 unemployed jobseekers were registered with the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of December, posting a rise of 99,700 from that of a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers in December increased by 42,800 month on month.

The number of unemployed jobseekers also includes those fully laid off. These figures are quoted from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

At the end of December, the number of people laid off was 96,600 in the whole country, posting a year-on-year increase of 68,900. The number of people fully laid-off totalled 77,800, representing an increase of 56,100 from that in December of the year before. The number of people fully laid-off increased by 19,800 from that in November.