Fewer open job vacancies in the last quarter of 2023 than one year earlier

Characteristics of job vacancies

In the last quarter of 2023, altogether 29,000 or 69 per cent of the job vacancies were in establishments owned by private enterprises. Compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, the number of open job vacancies decreased particularly in the private sector (-7,700). The number of job vacancies also decreased in establishments with 10 to 49 employees (-7,200) or more than 50 employees (-5,100).

Examined by the industry of the establishment, job vacancies decreased clearly in industry (B to E). Open job vacancies decreased clearly also in the major regions of Northern and Eastern Finland (-4,800) and Helsinki-Uusimaa (-3,000). In other major regions, the number of open job vacancies remained almost on level with the previous year.

In the last quarter, 30 per cent of all job vacancies were fixed-term, which is more or less the same as in the corresponding period of the year before. The share of part-time jobs in all open job vacancies was 25 per cent, which is around 10 percentage points more than in the same period one year ago.

Employers estimated that 58 per cent of the open job vacancies were hard-to-fill, while the corresponding share was 57 per cent one year earlier. For example, there were plenty of jobs considered hard to fill in establishments of human health and social work activities (Q) in the tasks of practical nurses and registered nurses as well as in early childhood education and care occupations.