Number of unemployed jobseekers rises in June

The number of unemployed jobseekers totalled 264,700 in the country at the end of June, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in a press release on Tuesday.

The number of unemployed jobseekers in June is 4,900 more than June last year and 25,800 more than in the previous month.

The number includes the customers of Employment and Economic Development Offices and local government pilots on employment as well as people fully laid off.

At the end of June, the number of people laid off was 20,800 in the whole country; a year-on-year increase of 2,700.

The number of people fully laid off totalled 15,800, representing an increase of 3,400 from June the year before. The number of people fully laid off increased by 1,200 from May.

The number of long-term unemployed –those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year – totalled 91,000, down 4,500 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 93,300, or 1,900 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 29,900, representing an increase of 100 from June last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 58.0 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and June. This is 3.3 percentage points less than a year before.

The number of new vacancies reported during June totalled 61,500, or 32,800 fewer than in June the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in June was 123,900, which is 65,900 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of June, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 105,000, up 1,500 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, rehabilitative work and self-motivated studies.

Meanwhile, according to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in June the number of people in employment was 8,000 more than on the previous year. The trend of the employment rate was 74.1%, which was 0.4 percentage points higher than in June the year before.

According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 211,000, which is 11,000 more than a year ago.

The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.1%, or 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous year.