Employment and unemployment in April 2002

- 14,000 more employed than a year ago
- Employment rate 66.5 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 10.4 per cent, 270,000 unemployed
- 34,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, there were 14,000 more employed in April than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners rose, while that of self-employed persons remained unchanged. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work went up by 22,000. The number of fixed-term and/or part-time jobs decreased by 10,000 from one year ago. During April, 34,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 2,000 more than in April 2001.

In April, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 66.5 per cent, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than one year ago. The employment rate for men fell by 0.2 percentage points to 67.6 per cent. The employment rate for women rose by 0.4 percentage points and was 65.4 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate was 67.9 per cent in April. Compared to last year's April, employment grew in business services, public services and construction. Employment declined in transport, and in hotel and restaurant activities. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Eastern and Southern Finland and decreased in the Provinces of Lapland and Western Finland.

Changes in the labour force 04/2001 - 04/2002, thousand

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	April 2002	April 2001	CHANGE, % 04/01 - 04/02
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 332	2 318	0.6
- wage-earners	2 009	1 996	0.6
Employment rate, %	66.5	66.4	0.1 ²
Unemployed¹	270	267	1.1
Labour force, total	2 602	2 585	0.7
Unemployment rate, %	10.4	10.3	0.1 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 314	1 321	-0.6
- discouraged job seekers	33	34	-3.2
- other disguised unemployment	54	45	20.7
Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	289	297	-2.6
- unemployed over a year	78	84	-7.2
Employed with subsidised measures	37	40	-6.5
In labour market training	29	32	-8.8
In trainee and job alternation places	15	16	-4.8
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	34	31	7.8
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 270,000 unemployed in April, i.e. 3,000 more than a year before. The change is within the margin of error (± 15,000). The rate of unemployment was 10.4 per cent, while it was 10.3 per cent one year previously. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the rate of unemployment has been 9.1 per cent since January 2002.

The unemployment rate for men was 10.8 per cent and that for women 10.0 per cent. One year before the corresponding percentages were 10.4 for men and 10.2 for women. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 29.9 per cent, having been 28.5 per cent in April 2001. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 21.3 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, i.e. 7.9 per cent, and highest in the Province of Oulu, at 16.1 per cent. The rate of unemployment rose most in hotel and restaurant activities. In construction, the rate of unemployment fell by 2.0 percentage points, but continued to be the highest among all industries, at 13.1 per cent.

Unemployment figures are higher in April than in March because young people are starting to enter the labour market but most of them have not found jobs yet.

At the end of April, there were 289,000 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 8,000 fewer than in April 2001. Unemployment declined elsewhere in the country, but rose in the employment and economic development centres of Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 6,000 from last year's April and was 3.3 per cent of the labour force. There were 33,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was the same as in last year's April.

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 April 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 ± 16,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Kalle Sinivuori +358 9 1734 3524,
Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434, 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 1604 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/