Number of unemployed jobseekers rises in Jan

The number of unemployed jobseekers was 291,100 in the country at the end of January, which is 33,100 more than a year earlier and 6,500 fewer than in the previous month, according to the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment published on Tuesday.

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

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 160,400, or 20,000 more than in January a year ago, were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

At the end of January, the number of people laid off was 45,300 persons; a year-on-year increase of 16,600. The number of people fully laid off totalled 35,000, representing an increase of 12,700 from January the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 4,600 from December.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 91,700, up 5,800 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 102,800, representing an increase of 7,300 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 32,200, representing an increase of 4,800 from January last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 53.4 per cent ended before reaching three months in January. This is 3.7 percentage points fewer than the year before.

The number of new vacancies reported during January totalled 91,200, or 23,500 fewer than in January the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in January was 133,400, which is 43,100 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of January, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 113,400, up 1,900 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 January the number of people in employment was 3,000 more than on the previous year. The trend of the employment rate was 73.2%, which was 0.8 percentage points lower than in January the year before.

According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 231,000, which is 20,000 more than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.7%, or 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous year.

There are some key differences between Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey.

The Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry are compiled on the basis of the information in the customer register of the Employment and Economic Development Offices and local government pilots on employment, while the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland is based on sampling.