Unemployment rate reduces to 9.6% in May

There were 275,000 unemployed people in the country in May 2021 and the number was 25,000 fewer than one year earlier, according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey.

The number of unemployed men was 162,000 and that of women 113,000.

In May, the unemployment rate stood at 9.6 per cent, having been 10.9 per cent one year earlier.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on Tuesday said that at the end of May, a total of 301,200 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

The number is 131,500 less than a year earlier, but 74,600 more than in May two years ago, said the ministry in a press release.

The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 17,200 from the previous month. Of the unemployed jobseekers, 154,500 were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. The number of unemployed jobseekers also includes those fully laid off.

At the end of May, the number of people laid off was 56,100 in the whole country, which was 125,300 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 41,200, representing a decrease of 117,000 from May the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 12,700 from April.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 110,900, up 41,100 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers over 50 years of age was 110,500, or 31,200 less than at the same time a year earlier.