Number of employed persons lower and that of unemployed persons higher in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to one year ago

release 25/01/2024 | Labour force survey 2023, 4th quarter

According to Statistics Finland's labour force survey, the number of employed persons was 15,000 lower in the fourth quarter (October to December) of 2023 than in the corresponding period of 2022. There were 21,000 more unemployed persons.

Population aged 15 to 74 by labour force status in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 2023

	2022/Q4, 1000 persons	2023/Q4, 1000 persons	Change, 2022/Q4 - 2023/Q4, 1000 persons	Change, 2022/Q4 - 2023/Q4, %
Population total	4 121	4 142	20	0,5
Active population total	2 793	2 798	6	0,2
- employed	2 621	2 606	-15	-0,6
- unemployed	172	193	21	11,9
Inactive population	1 329	1 343	15	1,1

Key selections

The average number of employed persons in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 2,606,000, which was 15,000 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2022.
There were 17,000 fewer employed men and 2,000 more, or almost as many, employed women compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
The number of employed persons increased most in human health and social work activities (Q) and decreased most in manufacturing (C) and construction (F).
In October to December 2023, the number of hours worked by employed persons decreased by 1.7 per cent from twelve months back.

Number of hours worked decreased

The number of hours worked by employed persons was 1,022.3 million hours in the fourth quarter of 2023, which was 1.7 per cent fewer than in the previous year.

In the fourth quarter (October to December) of 2023, the number of employed persons increased most in human health and social work activities (Q) and decreased most in manufacturing (C) and construction (F) compared to the corresponding period of the year before.

Share of persons working part-time increased

In the fourth quarter of 2023, altogether 515,000 employed persons worked part-time, which was 19.8 per cent of all employed. The share was 0.3 percentage points higher than in the year before.

Of part-time employed persons, 117,000, or 22.7 per cent, worked part-time because full-time work was not available. The number of persons in this group increased by 10,000 compared to the corresponding period of the year before.

Number of unemployed persons and persons in the inactive population higher than a year earlier

The average number of unemployed persons in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 193,000, which was 21,000 more than in October to December 2022. The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 6.9 per cent, having been 6.2 per cent one year earlier.

In October to December 2023, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,343,000, which was 15,000 more than a year earlier.