PRESS RELEASE

21 November 2023

256,100 unemployed jobseekers in October

The number of unemployed jobseekers rose by 23,700 from October of last year. The number of new vacancies reported totalled 54,000. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in October was 102,000, which is 58,600 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of October, the number of unemployed jobseekers totalled 256,100. This is 23,700 more than a year earlier and 6,300 more than in the previous month. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

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, 144,200, or 14,700 more than in October a year ago, were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

At the end of October, the number of people laid off was 29,400 persons; a year-on-year increase of 13,000. The number of people fully laid off totalled 21,200, representing an increase of 10,300 from October the year before. The number of people fully laid off grew by 3,500 from September.

89,400 unemployed in the long term

The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 89,400, up 1,700 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 93,600, representing an increase of 4,300 on the year before.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 26,600, representing an increase of 3,000 from October last year. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 60.2 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and October. This is 1.9 percentage points fewer than a year before.

Decrease in new vacancies

The number of new vacancies reported during October totalled 54,000, or 25,800 fewer than in October the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in October was 102,000, which is 58,600 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of October, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 115,900, down 400 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, rehabilitative work and self-motivated studies.

Statistics Finland: The trend of the unemployment rate 7.5%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in October the number of people in employment was 31,000 less than on the previous year. The trend of the employment rate was 73.6%, which was 0.6 percentage points lower than in October the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 190,000, which is 28,000 more than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.5%, or 0.6 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Key differences between Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey

This information is based on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland. 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.

In the employment service statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment persons that are not in employment relationship or employed in business are listed as unemployed. Persons fully laid-off but not full-time students are also categorised as unemployed in the Employment Service Statistics. The Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland has a stricter definition of being unemployed: a person is unemployed if he or she has actively sought employment during the preceding four weeks and is available for work over the coming two weeks. The figures of the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland are internationally comparable and thus they are the official Finnish unemployment statistics.

Inquiries: Petri Syvänen, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 048 050

Links:

Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment: https://www.temtyollisyyskatsaus.fi/graph/tkat/tkat.aspx?lang=en

Key definitions of the Employment Service Statistics

https://tem.fi/en/release-dates-of-statistics-and-description-and-quality-description

More detailed information on the Employment Service Statistics is available in the StatFin database: https://statfin.stat.fi/PxWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/

Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey: https://www.stat.fi/en/statistics/tyti

Further information on the differences between the statistics: https://media.graphassets.com/ibCSU7MzQ5S7MeTqlSid?dl=true