Number of unemployed jobseekers on wane in July

The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 50,300 in July, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in a press release on Tuesday.

The number of new vacancies reported in July totalled 74,700. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies amounted to 161,000, which is 24,900 more than a year ago.

At the end of July, a total of 272,300 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

This is 50,300 fewer than a year earlier and 12,500 more than in the previous month.

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 148,600, or 18,000 fewer than in July a year ago, were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

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

At the end of July, the number of people laid off was 20,000 in the whole country, which was 24,400 fewer than at the same time last year. The number of people fully laid off totalled 14,600, representing a decrease of 17,800 from July the year before. The number of people fully laid off increased by 2,300 from June.

The number of long-term unemployed — i.e. those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 95,400, down 18,500 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 97,900, or 15,500 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 30,500, representing a decrease of 9,800 from July last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 61.0 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and July. This is 2.5 percentage points more than the year before.

The number of new vacancies reported during July totalled 74,700, or 2,500 more than in July the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in July amounted to 161,000, which is 24,900 more than a year ago.

At the end of July, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 98,000, up 200 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, rehabilitative work and self-motivated studies.

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in July the number of people in employment was 49,000 more than on the previous year.

The trend of the employment rate was 73.7%, which was 1.3 percentage points higher than in July the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 190,000, which is 12,000 less than a year ago.

The trend of the unemployment rate was 6.8%, or 0.9 percentage points lower than the previous year.