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Published: 20 October 2020

Unemployment grew clearly in September compared with the year before

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 35,000 lower in September 2020 than one year ago. There were 47,000 more unemployed than in September 2019. The trend of the employment rate was 71.4 per cent and the trend of the unemployment rate was 8.4 per cent.

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2010/09–2020/09, persons aged 15–64

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2010/09–2020/09, persons aged 15–64

Employment and unemployment 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. The preliminary nature of the latest trend figures should be considered when making conclusions. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there is untypical variation in the time series in 2020, which is why the uncertainty related to trend figures is higher than usual. In connection with the calculation of the data for September, the drop in employment in the spring has been interpreted as a level shift in the seasonal adjustment model, because employment has not normalised in six months. The level shift is visible as a steep change in trend figures. The figures reported in this release are not adjusted for seasonal variation unless separately mentioned that they concern the trend. Find out more about the trend here .

In September, the trend of the employment rate was 71.4 per cent and the trend of the unemployment rate was 8.4 per cent.

In September 2020, the number of employed persons was 2,539,000 (margin of error ±35,000), which was 35,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 10,000 fewer employed men and 25,000 fewer employed women than in September 2019.

In September, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 72.0 per cent, having been 72.7 per cent one year earlier. The employment rate of men aged 15 to 64 fell by 0.4 percentage points to 73.4 per cent and that of women fell by 0.9 percentage points to 70.6 per cent from last year’s September.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 208,000 unemployed (margin of error ±20,000) in September 2020, i.e. 47,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 110,000 and that of women 97,000.

The unemployment rate was 7.6 per cent in September, having been 5.9 per cent in the year before. The unemployment rate for men grew by 1.6 percentage points to 7.7 per cent from last year’s September. The unemployment rate for women rose by 1.7 percentage points to 7.4 per cent.

In September, there were a total of 607,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 237,000 were employed and 40,000 unemployed. Thus, the number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 276,000. In September, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 14.3 per cent, which was the same as one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 18,0 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population of the same age was 6.5 per cent.

There were 1,388,000 persons in the inactive population in September 2020, which was 7,000 fewer than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 125,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 14,000 more than in September 2019.

Changes in employment 2019/09 – 2020/09 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2019/09 2020/09 2019/09 - 2020/09
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 129 4 134 0,1
Active population total 2 734 2 746 0,4
Employed 2 573 2 539 –1,4
– employees 2 203 2 196 –0,3
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 370 342 –7,5
Unemployed 161 208 29,0
Inactive population 1 395 1 388 –0,5
– persons in disguised unemployment 111 125 12,4
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 72,7 72,0 –0,7
Unemployment rate 5,9 7,6 1,7
Activity rate 66,2 66,4 0,2
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey data for the third quarter of 2020

In the third quarter (July to September) of 2020, the average number of employed persons was 2,549,000, or 50,000 fewer than in the corresponding quarter of 2019. The number of employed persons decreased most in human health and social work activities (Q), wholesale and retail trade (G) and accommodation and food service activities (I).

The number of hours worked by employed persons was almost the same in the third quarter of 2020 as twelve months previously.

The average number of unemployed persons in the third quarter of 2020 was 212,000, which was 45,000 more than in the July to September period of 2019. The unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2020 was 7.7 per cent, which was 1.6 percentage points higher than in the respective period of 2019.

In the third quarter of 2020, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,375,000, which was 13,000 higher than a year earlier. Of the inactive population, 127,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 16,000 more than in the corresponding period of 2019.

Changes in employment 2019/III – 2020/III according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Quarter Change
2019/III 2020/III 2019/III - 2020/III
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Active population total 2 766 2 761 –0,2
Employed persons total 2 600 2 549 –1,9
Unemployed total 166 212 27,1
– men 89 111 25,3
– women 78 100 29,2
Inactive population 1 362 1 375 0,9
– persons in disguised unemployment 111 127 14,4
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 September 2020, there were altogether 316,000 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 90,000 higher than in September last year.

Unemployment grew in September from the corresponding period in the previous year in the areas of all Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment: most in Uusimaa (62%), Ostrobothnia (49%), Southwest Finland (44%) and Pirkanmaa (40%). The number of unemployed job seekers grew least in Kainuu (1%), South Savo (17%), North Karelia (18%), Southeast Finland (20%) and Central Finland (20%). At the end of September, the number of persons fully laid off registered at the employment and economic development offices was 57,000, which was 48,000 more than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 114,000 at the end of September, which was 6,000 fewer than in September of the previous year. Altogether, 4.1 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 38,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 10,000 higher than in last year’s September. During this September, 58,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which is 7,000 fewer than in September last year.

Changes 2019/09–2020/09 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2019/09 2020/09 2019/09 - 2020/09
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 226 316 39,7
– unemployed over a year 63 81 29,6
Services, total 120 114 –5,3
– employed 24 23 –6,3
– in labour market training, in training 22 26 18,0
– engaged in work/training trials 8 6 –27,3
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 65 58 –10,2
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 65 58 –11,3
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

The new classification of the employer sector was adopted in the Labour Force Survey starting from 1 January 2020. Comparison data according to the new classification of employer sectors for 2019 are published only in the appendix tables of the monthly and quarterly releases.

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

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 2020, September. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Pertti Taskinen 029 551 2690, Ulla Hannula 029 551 2924, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

Publication in pdf-format (635.3 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 20.10.2020

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. September 2020. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2020/09/tyti_2020_09_2020-10-20_tie_001_en.html