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Published: 30 March 2021

Fewer employed persons and more unemployed persons compared to one year ago

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 6,000 lower in February 2021 than one year ago. There were 35,000 more unemployed than in February 2020.

Changes in employment 2020/02 – 2021/02 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

	Year/Month		Change
	2020/02	2021/02	2020/02 - 2021/02
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Population total	4 132	4 127	–0,1
Active population total	2 672	2 701	1,1
Employed	2 487	2 481	–0,2
Unemployed	185	220	18,9
Inactive population	1 460	1 426	–2,4
	Per cent, %		Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64	70,3	70,0	–0,2
Unemployment rate	6,9	8,1	1,2
Activity rate	64,7	65,5	0,8
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column. The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

The data content, data collection and estimation method of the Labour Force Survey are revised at the beginning of 2021. Due to the revision, only the key indicators concerning the labour market are published in this release, and trend figures are not published. Preliminary data concerning February 2021 are not entered into Statistics Finland's free StatFin database or the chargeable Astika database.

Due to the adjustment of the estimation method, the data concerning February 2021 are not comparable with earlier released data and they may later become revised. Final data will be published in connection with the release of data for March and the 1st quarter of 2021.

For the comparison, the data for February 2020 were calculated retrospectively with the new estimation method and they differ from the previously released data. The data for February 2020 may also become revised later.

In February 2021, the number of employed persons was 2,481,000 (margin of error ±31,000), which was 6,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 8,000 fewer employed men and 2,000 more employed women than in February 2020.

In February, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 70.0 per cent, having been 70.3 per cent one year earlier. From the previous year’s February, the employment rate of men aged 15 to 64 fell by 0.6 percentage points to 69.8 per cent and that of women rose by 0.2 percentage points to 70.3 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 220,000 unemployed in February 2021 (margin of error ±22,000), i.e. 35,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 129,000 and that of women 91,000.

The unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent in February, having been 6.9 per cent in the year before. The unemployment rate for men went up by 1.5 percentage points from the previous year’s February to 9.2 per cent. The unemployment rate for women rose by 1.0 percentage points to 7.0 per cent.

There were 1,426,000 persons in the inactive population in February 2021, which was 35,000 fewer than one year earlier.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

At the end of February 2021, there were altogether 327,000 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 79,000 higher than in February last year.

Unemployment rose in February from the corresponding period of the previous year in the areas of all Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment: most in Uusimaa (58%), Southwest Finland (33%), Lapland (30%), and Ostrobothnia (28%). The number of unemployed job seekers grew least in Kainuu (8%), South Savo (9%), North Karelia (11%) and Southeast Finland (13%). At the end of February, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 56,000, which was 37,000 more than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 115,000 at the end of February, which was 4,000 fewer than in February of the year before. Altogether, 4.3 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 39,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 9,000 higher than in February of the year before. During this February, 79,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 5,000 more than in February 2020.

Changes 2020/02–2021/02 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

	Year/Month		Change
	2020/02	2021/02	2020/02 - 2021/02
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers	248	327	31,8
– unemployed over a year	63	96	52,0
Services, total	119	115	–3,3
– employed	23	24	3,7
– in labour market training, in training	24	26	9,8
– engaged in work/training trials	8	6	–24,5
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit	64	59	–7,9
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices	74	79	6,9
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

Contact information for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment:
Petri Syvänen, tel. +358 29 504 8050, Employment bulletin

Links

Publication and dissemination of Labour Force Survey data in the early part of 2021

How and why is the Labour Force Survey renewed from the beginning of 2021?

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

Job vacancy survey

The latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU and
the 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 2021, February. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Tatu Leskinen 029 551 3285, Ulla Hannula 029 551 2924, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Updated 30.03.2021