Number of unemployed jobseekers rises in Jan

The number of unemployed jobseekers was 325,800 in Finland at the end of January and the number is 34,600 more than a year earlier and 4,100 more than 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 municipal employment services as well as people who are fully laid off.

At the end of January, the number of people laid off was 44,300 persons; a year-on-year decrease of 1,000. The number of people fully laid off totalled 30,600, representing a decrease of 4,400 from January the year before. The number of people fully laid off fell by 4,400 from December.

The number of long-term unemployed – that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year – amounted to 112,300, up 20,600 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 112,200, representing an increase of 9,400 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 38,200, representing an increase of 6,000 from January last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 46.2 per cent ended before reaching three months in January. This is 7.2 percentage points fewer than the year before.

Meanwhile, the number of new vacancies reported during January totalled 65,600, or 25,600 fewer than in January the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in January was 95,400, which is 38,000 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of January, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 94,800, down 18,600 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 January the number of people in employment was 5,000 less than on the previous year.

The trend of the employment rate was 71.8%, which was 1.1 percentage points lower than in January the year before.

According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 269,000, which is 38,000 more than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.9%, 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.