Unemployment rate ups to 10.2% in April

The number of unemployed persons in April 2017 was 279,000, which was 15,000 higher than in the corresponding period one year ago, according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey.

The unemployment rate was 10.2 per cent compared to 9.8 per cent in April last year. There were 21,000 more employed than in April of the previous year. The number of persons in the inactive population was 35,000 lower than one year earlier.

In April 2017, the number of employed persons was 2,443,000 (margin of error ±33,000), which was 21,000 more than a year earlier. There were 18,000 more employed men and 3,000 more employed women than in April 2016.

In April 2017, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 68.6 per cent, having been 67.9 per cent one year earlier.

From last year’s April, men’s employment rate rose by 0.9 percentage points to 69.3 per cent and women’s by 0.3 percentage points to 67.8 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 69.2 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 279,000 unemployed (margin of error ±20,000) in April 2017, i.e. 15,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 150,000 and that of women 128,000.

At 10.2 per cent, the unemployment rate in April was 0.4 percentage points higher than one year earlier. Men’s unemployment rate was 10.7 per cent and women’s 9.8 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.9 per cent.

The number of young people aged 15 to 24 was 632,000 in April. Of them, 233,000 were employed and 88,000 unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 322,000.

In April, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 27.4 per cent, which was 1.3 percentage points lower than one year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 20.3 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 14.0 per cent.

There were 1,387,000 persons in the inactive population in April 2017, which was 35,000 fewer than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 119,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 13,000 fewer than in April 2016.

At the end of April 2017, there were altogether 304,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as unemployed job seekers at the employment and economic development offices. The number of unemployed job seekers was 37,000 lower than in April 2016.