Unemployment rate 8.5 per cent in January

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of unemployed persons in January 2014 was 221,000, which was 7,000 fewer than one year ago. The unemployment rate was 8.5 per cent, having been 8.7 per cent in January of the year before. There were 16,000 fewer employed persons than in January of the previous year. The number of persons in the inactive population was 32,000 higher in January 2014 than one year earlier.

Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2004/01 – 2014/01

In January 2014, the number of employed persons was 2,385,000 (margin of error ą31,000), which was 16,000 lower than a year earlier . There were 10,000 fewer employed men and 7,000 fewer employed women than in January 2013. The number of employed persons decreased in the private sector and grew slightly in the public sector compared with January 2013.

In January, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.0 per cent, which was almost the same as one year before. Men’s employment rate was 67.2 per cent and women’s 66.7 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 68.5 per cent.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 221,000 unemployed (margin of error ą18,000) in January 2014, i.e. 7,000 fewer than in January of the year before. The number of unemployed men was 128,000 and that of women 93,000.

At 8.5 per cent, the unemployment rate in January was 0.2 percentage points lower than one year earlier. Men’s unemployment rate was 9.5 per cent and women’s 7.4 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.4 per cent.

In January, there were a total of 654,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 223,000 were employed and 60,000 unemployed. Thus, the labour force of young people (employed and unemployed) totalled 283,000. In January, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 21.2 per cent, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 19.7 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 9.2 per cent.

There were 1,485,000 persons in the inactive population in January 2014, which was 32,000 more than in January 2013. Of the inactive population, 153,000 persons were in disguised unemployment .

Changes in employment 2013/01 – 2014/01 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

	Year/Month		Change
	2013/01	2014/01	2013/01 - 2014/01
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Population total	4 082	4 091	0,2
Active population total	2 629	2 606	–0,9
Employed	2 402	2 385	–0,7
– employees	2 074	2 047	–1,3
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers	327	338	3,4
Unemployed	228	221	–2,9
Inactive population	1 452	1 485	2,2
– Persons in disguised unemployment	112	153	36,9
	Per cent, %		Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15 to 64	66,9	67,0	0,1
Unemployment rate	8,7	8,5	–0,2
Activity rate	64,4	63,7	–0,7
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column. The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

At the end of January 2014, there were altogether 328,000 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 35,000 higher than in January 2013.

Unemployment increased from the previous year's January in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in Uusimaa (21%), Kainuu (16%) and Pirkanmaa (15%). At the end of January, the number of temporarily laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 31,000, which was 6,000 more than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation stage totalled 118,000 at the end of January, which was 18,000 more than in January of the previous year. Altogether, 4.5 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 43,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 4,000 higher than in last year's January. During this January, 54,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which is 2,000 fewer than in January 2013.

Changes 2013/01 – 2014/01 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

	Year/Month		Change
	2013/01	2014/01	2013/01 - 2014/01
	1000 persons		Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers ¹⁾	292	328	12,0
– unemployed over a year	68	86	26,6
Services, total	100	118	17,8
– employed	27	34	26,7
– in labour market training, in training	26	27	3,8
– in trainee places, engaged in work/training trials	13	12	–6,5
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit	34	44	30,6
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices	55	54	–3,2
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

1) The law reform that entered into force at the beginning of 2013 and the change in the lay-off procedure on 1 July increase the number of unemployed job seekers somewhat.

Links: Legislative amendment on 1 Jan. 2013
Change in the lay-off procedure on 1 July 2013

Contact information for the Ministry of Employment and the Economy:
Petri Syvänen tel. +358 29 504 8050, http://www.tem.fi/employmentbulletin

Links

Labour Force Survey tables in databases

Differences between the Labour Force Survey and the Employment Service Statistics are explained in the quality description of the Labour Force Survey.

About seasonally adjusted trend

Comparison between the statistics of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

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

Job vacancy survey

Source: Labour force survey 2014, January. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kirsi Toivonen 09 1734 3535, Tuomas Remes 09 1734 3682, Veli Rajaniemi 09 1734 3434, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

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Quality descriptions

Quality Description: Labour force survey (25.2.2014)

Updated 25.2.2014

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. January 2014. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 19.4.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2014/01/tyti_2014_01_2014-02-25_tie_001_en.html