Unemployment rate rises to 7.5% in Aug

The number of unemployed persons in August 2017 was 202,000, which was 7,000 higher than one year ago, according to Statistics Finland.

The unemployment rate was 7.5 per cent in August this year, which stood at 7.2 per cent in August of the previous year, said a press release.

In August 2017, the number of employed persons was 2,502,000 (margin of error ±33,000), which was 7,000 higher than a year earlier. There were 9,000 more employed men and 2,000 fewer employed women than in August 2016.

In August, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.5 per cent, having been 69.9 per cent one year earlier.

The employment rate for men rose by 0.7 percentage points from last year’s August to 72.0 per cent. Women's employment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 69.0 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 69.4 per cent.

There were 202,000 unemployed (margin of error ±18,000) in August 2017, i.e. 7,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 97,000 and that of women 105,000.