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Published: 26 June 2018

Employment improved further

Correction on 26 June 2018 at 13.15. The correction is indicated in red.

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed persons was 90,000 higher in May 2018 than one year ago. The employment rate rose to 72.3 per cent. The trend of the employment rate was 71.4 per cent in May. The number of unemployed persons was 261,000, which was 35,000 lower than one year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.6 per cent in May.

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2008/05–2018/05, persons aged 15–64

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2008/05–2018/05, persons aged 15–64

Unemployment and employment vary quite considerably by month and the change from the observation of the previous month mainly describes the seasonal aspect rather than the trend in development. Thus, the latest statistical data are compared to the corresponding period of the year before. By contrast, the figures of the trend series that are adjusted for seasonal and random variation are mutually comparable and phenomena associated with long-term development and cyclical changes are thus more easily observable from the trend of the time series.

The trend usually changes somewhat when the data of the following month are included in the time series. This preliminary nature of trend figures should be taken into account when making conclusions. The figures reported in this release are not adjusted for seasonal variation unless separately mentioned that they concern the trend. You can read more about the trend here .

In May 2018, the number of employed persons was 2,555,000 (margin of error ±33,000), which was 90,000 higher than a year earlier. There were 30,000 more employed men and 60,000 more employed women than in May 2017.

In May 2018, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 72.3 per cent, having been 69.4 per cent one year earlier. From last year’s May, men’s employment rate rose by 1.9 percentage points to 72.9 per cent and women’s by 3.9 percentage points to 71.6 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 71.4 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 261,000 (margin of error ±20,000) unemployed in May 2018, i.e. 35,000 fewer than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 132,000 and that of women 130,000.

At 9.3 per cent, the unemployment rate in May was 1.5 percentage points lower than one year earlier. The unemployment rate of men decreased by 1.3 percentage points to 9.1 per cent, and that of women by 1.7 percentage points to 9.5 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.6 per cent.

In May, there were a total of 620,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 284,000 were employed and 113,000 unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 397,000. In May, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 28.4 per cent, which was 5.1 percentage points lower than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 17.4 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 18.2 per cent.

There were 1,306,000 in the inactive population in May 2018, which was 42,000 fewer than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 122,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 16,000 fewer than in May 2017.

Changes in employment 2017/05 – 2018/05 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2017/05 2018/05 2017/05 - 2018/05
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 110 4 122 0,3
Active population total 2 762 2 816 2,0
Employed 2 465 2 555 3,6
– employees 2 120 2 226 5,0
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 346 329 –4,9
Unemployed 297 261 –11,9
Inactive population 1 348 1 306 –3,1
– persons in disguised unemployment 138 122 –11,6
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 69,4 72,3 2,9
Unemployment rate 10,7 9,3 –1,5
Activity rate 67,2 68,3 1,1
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

At the end of May 2018, there were altogether 242,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as job seekers at the employment and economic development offices. The number of unemployed job seekers was 50,000 lower than in May 2017.

Unemployment fell in May from the corresponding period in 2017 in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in Pirkanmaa (-23%), Satakunta (-23%), North Ostrobothnia (-22%) and Ostrobothnia (-20%). At the end of May, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 8,000, which was 4,000 fewer than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 131,000 at the end of May, which was 6,000 more than in May of the year before. Altogether, 4.6 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 30,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 5,000 lower than in last year's May. During this May, 63,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 10,000 more than in May last year.

Changes 2017/05–2018/05 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2017/05 2018/05 2017/05 - 2018/05
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 292 242 –17,1
– unemployed over a year 106 77 –27,4
Services, total 124 131 5,0
– employed 25 27 8,7
– in labour market training, in training 22 22 –0,7
– engaged in work/training trials 12 12 2,4
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 65 69 6,1
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 52 63 20,0
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

Contact information for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment:
Johanna Alatalo, tel. +358 29 504 8084, http://www.temtyollisyyskatsaus.fi

Links

Labour Force Survey tables in databases

About seasonally adjusted trend

The accuracy of figures and the margins of error are explained in the quality description of the Labour Force Survey .

Comparison between the employment statistics of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU can be found on Eurostat's home page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Job vacancy survey

Latest data on open job vacancies published by the EU can be found on Eurostat's home page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat


Source: Labour force survey 2018, May. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kirsi Toivonen 029 551 3535, Henri Lukkarinen 029 551 3704, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (453.5 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

Appendix tables

Figures
Quality descriptions

Updated 26.06.2018

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. May 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2018/05/tyti_2018_05_2018-06-26_tie_001_en.html