Number of unemployed jobseekers rises in Oct

The number of unemployed jobseekers was 285,200 in Finland at the end of Ocrober and the number is 29,100 more than a year earlier and 5,400 more 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, 164,400 were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment, which is 20,200 more than in October a year ago.

At the end of October, the number of people laid off was 32,400; a year-on-year increase of 3,000.

The number of people fully laid off totalled 21,700, representing an increase of 500 from October the year before. The number of people fully laid off grew by 2,600 from September.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — was 101,000 and the number is 11,600 higher than the previous year.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 101,500, representing an increase of 8,000 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 31,300, representing an increase of 4,800 from October last year.

Of the unemployment periods of youths, 56.7 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and October. This is 3.5 percentage points fewer than a year before.

The number of new vacancies reported during October totalled 27,300, which is 26,700 fewer than in October the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in October was 51,300, which is 50,700 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of October, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 110,100, down 5,700 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 October the number of people in employment was 19,000 less than on the previous year.

The trend of the employment rate was 71.7%, which was 1.5 percentage points lower than in October the year before. The unemployment total was 228,000, which is 38,000 more than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.7%, or 1.1 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.