Clearly fewer open job vacancies in the first quarter of 2024 than one year earlier

Characteristics of job vacancies

In the first quarter of 2024, altogether 36,700 or 61 per cent of the job vacancies were in establishments owned by private enterprises. Open job vacancies decreased considerably in the private sector (-22,200) and also went down somewhat in central government (-700) compared to one year earlier.

Examined by the industry of the establishment, job vacancies decreased clearly in industry (B to E) and in the industry groups of trade, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities (G to I), and information and communication services (J). By contrast, the number of job vacancies increased in the industry group of other services (R, S).

The number of open job vacancies decreased significantly in Helsinki-Uusimaa (-9,100) and Western Finland (-8,300) and fell or remained more or less unchanged in the other major regions.

In the first quarter, 49 per cent of all job vacancies were fixed-term, which was five percentage points higher than in the corresponding period of the year before. The share of part-time jobs in all open job vacancies was 21 per cent, which is slightly lower than in the corresponding period last year.

Employers estimated that 38 per cent of the open job vacancies were hard-to-fill, while the corresponding share was 49 per cent one year earlier. For example, there were still 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.