Long-term unemployment continued to increase

At the end of April, there were a total of 313,200 unemployed jobseekers. It is 37,900 more than a year earlier and 7,200 fewer than in the previous month. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the KEHA Centre.

"The number of unemployed jobseekers includes clients of municipal employment services and those fully laid off," says Researcher Linda Typpö from the Development and Administrative Services Centre (KEHA Centre). A total of 22,800 people were fully laid off, which is 4,600 fewer than in April last year. Since March, the number of people fully laid off decreased by 4,200. The number of people laid off in the entire country totalled 34,700 at the end of April (including those working shorter hours), down 3,000 from the previous year.

117,300 were long-term unemployed

"In April, there were 117,300 long-term unemployed persons, or those who had been unemployed for at least one year without interruption, up 25,000 on the previous year. Long-term unemployment continues to increase from the previous month, even though the number of unemployed has decreased,” Typpö says.

There were 36,000 unemployed jobseekers under the age of 25, which is 5,700 more than in April last year. In January–April, 44.1 per cent of the unemployment periods of young people ended before three months of unemployment, which is 10.4 percentage points less than a year before. The number of unemployed jobseekers over the age of 50 was 109,400, up 11,800 on the same time last year.

Decrease in the number of new vacancies

"The number of new vacancies reported in April was 41,800, which is 14,300 fewer than in April last year. In terms of numbers, the decrease was highest in the professional group of service and sales workers (-5,300), which is 33 per cent less than in the previous year,” Typpö says. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in April was 82,900, which is 31,600 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of April, 104,800 persons were in services included in the activation rate, which is 13,000 fewer than the year before. These services include, for example, pay subsidy, labour market training, rehabilitative work activities, and independent study.

Statistics Finland: The trend of the unemployment rate 9.2%

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in April the number of people in employment was 2,000 more than on the previous year. The trend of the employment rate was 71.6%, which was 0.7 percentage points lower than in April the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 288,000, which is 25,000 more than a year ago. The trend of the unemployment rate was 9.2%, or 1.0 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Key differences between the Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey

The information is based on the Employment Service Statistics of the KEHA Centre and the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland. The source of the Employment Service Statistics of the KEHA Centre is the customer register of municipal employment services, while the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland is a sample survey.

In the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, anyone who is not employed or acting as an entrepreneur is classified as unemployed. Persons fully laid off but not full-time students are also categorised as unemployed in the Employment Service Statistics. The Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland has a stricter definition of unemployed: a person is unemployed if they have actively sought employment during the preceding four weeks and are available for work within two weeks. The Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland produces official unemployment figures that are internationally comparable.