Employment and unemployment in March 2002

- As many employed as a year ago
- Employment rate 66.1 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 9.5 per cent, 243,000 unemployed
- 33,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, exactly the same number of people were employed in March as a year earlier. The number of wage-earners fell by 6,000, while that of self-employed persons rose by the same amount. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work was unchanged. The number of part-time jobs grew by 25,000 from one year ago. During March, 33,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 2,000 less than in March 2001.

In March, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 66.1 per cent, which is 0.2 percentage points lower than one year ago. The employment rate for men fell by 0.7 percentage points to 67.5 per cent. The employment rate for women rose slightly, to 64.8 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate was 67.9 per cent in March. Compared to last year's March, employment grew in the metal industry, social services and telecommunications. Employment declined in trade, financial intermediation and insurance and health care. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Lapland and Western Finland and decreased in the Provinces of Southern Finland and Oulu.

Changes in the labour force 03/2001 - 03/2002, thousand

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	March 2002	March 2001	CHANGE, % 03/01 - 03/02
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 316	2 316	0.0
- wage-earners	2 017	2 023	-0.3
Employment rate, %	66.1	66.3	-0.2 ²
Unemployed¹	243	247	-1.6
Labour force, total	2 559	2 563	-0.1
Unemployment rate, %	9.5	9.6	-0.1 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 355	1 342	1.0
- discouraged job seekers	32	35	-9.5
- other disguised unemployment	50	58	-13.5
Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	300	305	-1.8
- unemployed over a year	78	84	-7.3
Employed with subsidised measures	36	40	-9.4
In labour market training	29	32	-10.9
In trainee and job alternation places	15	16	-6.9
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	33	35	-5.1
Unrounded figures are used in the CHANGE column ¹ Based on the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)			² percentage points

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 243,000 unemployed in March, i.e. 4,000 fewer than the year before. The change is within the margin of error (± 15 000). The rate of unemployment was 9.5 per cent, while it was 9.6 per cent one year previously. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate was 8.9 per cent, whereas it was 9.0 in February.

The unemployment rate for men was 9.2 per cent and that for women 9.8 per cent. The unemployment rate for men fell by 0.3 per cent, while that for women remained unchanged. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 25.6 per cent, against 22.8 per cent in March 2001. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 21.7 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, i.e. 7.3 per cent, and highest in the Province of Oulu, at 15.3 per cent.

At the end of March, there were 300,000 persons registered, in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act and the Labour Exchange Office Regulations, as job seekers at the labour exchange offices. This is about 5,000 fewer than in March 2001. Unemployment declined in the areas of eleven but rose in the areas of four employment and economic development centres. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 8,000 from the year before and was 3.3 per cent of the labour force. There were 34,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was the same as in last year's March.

Differences between the Labour Force Survey and the Labour Exchange Statistics

The employment situation is monitored monthly both with the sample-based Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland and with the register-based Labour Exchange Statistics of the Ministry of Labour. The Labour Exchange Statistics describe the situation on the last weekday of the month. The data for the Labour Force Survey are collected for every week of the month.

The Labour Force Survey follows the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the practices required by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. According to them, a person is classified as unemployed if he or she is aged 15 or over, does not have a job, has actively sought employment in the past four weeks and would be available for work within two weeks. The Labour Exchange Statistics are based on legislation and administrative regulations.

The Labour Force Survey and the Labour Exchange Statistics apply two basically different statistical criteria to how actively a person seeks work and makes him/herself available on the labour market. Those unemployed persons who have neither contacted a labour exchange office for over four weeks, nor actively sought work in any other way either, are generally classified in the Labour Force Survey as belonging to disguised unemployment. Full-time students can be recorded as unemployed in the Labour Force Survey if they meet the ILO recommendations, whereas in the Labour Exchange Statistics they are not accepted as being unemployed during term time. Due to statistical differences, the number of unemployed job seekers does not agree with the number of unemployed calculated in accordance with the ILO recommendations. The difference between the March unemployment figures of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Labour was approximately the same as a year earlier.

Since the Labour Force Survey is a sample survey, its data allow for random variation. In respect of the unemployment rate, for example, the 95 per cent confidence interval or the margin of error is about ± 0.6 percentage points. The confidence interval for the number of unemployed is approximately ± 15,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517, Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Heikki Tervo +358 9 1734 2921, Mr Tapio Oksanen +358 9 1734 3228;
e-mail tyovoima.tilastokeskus@stat.fi, Internet http://www.stat.fi/tk/el/tyoll.html
Ministry of Labour: Mr Oiva Lönnberg +358 9 1856 8048, e-mail oiva.lonnberg@mol.fi;
Internet http://www.mol.fi/katsaukset/
Latest seasonally adjusted unemployment figures published by the EU at: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/eurostat/