Number of unemployed people reduces by 50,500 in Sep

The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 50,500 in September this year compared to the number in the stipulated period of 2020, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in a press release on Tuesday.

At the end of September, a total of 265,300 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

The number is 50,500 less than a year earlier, but 39,300 more than in September two years ago.

The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 15,700 from the previous month.

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 143,200 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 September, the number of people laid off was 31,500 in the whole country, which was 42,100 fewer than at the same time the year before.

The number of people fully laid off totalled 21,100, representing a decrease of 35,700 from September the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 3,500 from August.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 109,400, up 28,300 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 101,800, or 11,700 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 totalled 29,400, representing a decrease of 8,700 from September last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 60.1 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and September. This is 3.6 percentage points less than a year before.

The number of new vacancies reported during September totalled 96,500, or 38,500 more than in September the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in September amounted to 170,300, which is 67,300 more than a year ago.

At the end of September, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 110,800, down 3,100 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

Meanwhile, according to Statistics Finland, in September the number of people in employment was 17,000 more than on the previous year.

The trend of the employment rate was 72.5%, which was 2.6 percentage points higher than in September the year before.

According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 191,000, which is 11,000 less than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.6%, or 0.7 percentage points lower than the previous year.