Long-term unemployment continues to fall in May

The number of unemployed jobseekers was down by 13,000 in May from the previous month, said a press release issued by Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on Tuesday.

A total of 241,600 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of May. This was 49,900 fewer than a year earlier.

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 77,300, down 29,200 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers over 50 years of age was 92,900, or 20,000 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 29,600, representing a decrease of 5,500 from May last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 68.1% of cases between January and May, which is 5.8 percentage points more than the year before.

At the end of May, the number of people laid off was 15,300 in the whole country, which was 6,500 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 8,200, representing a decrease of 4,400 from May the year before.

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during May totalled 62,500, or 10,400 more than in May the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in May amounted to 118,600, which was 21,100 more than a year ago.

At the end of May, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 130,600, up 6,300 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in May the number of people in employment was up 90,000 on the previous year.

The employment rate was 72.3%, which was 2.9 percentage points higher than in May the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 261,000, which is 35,000 fewer than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 9.3%, or 1.5 percentage points lower than the previous year.