Employment and unemployment in May 2002

- Almost as many employed as a year ago
- Employment rate 68.5 per cent
- Rate of unemployment 11.9 per cent, 323,000 unemployed
- 36,000 new vacancies at labour exchange offices

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons was 3,000 higher than a year earlier. The number of wage-earners engaged in continuous full-time work rose by 4,000. The number of fixed-term jobs fell by 19,000 from a year ago. During May, 36,000 new vacancies were reported to the labour exchange offices, which is 2,000 less than in May 2001.

In May, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 68.5 per cent, which was the same as the year before. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the employment rate stayed unchanged at 67.8 per cent. The employment rate for men fell by 1.1 percentage points to 69.7 per cent. The employment rate for women rose by 0.9 percentage points and was 67.2 per cent. Compared to last year's May, employment grew in business services, hotels and restaurants, and public and other services. Employment declined in manufacturing, transport, and agriculture and forestry. Jobs increased in the Provinces of Southern Finland and Oulu and decreased in the Province of Eastern Finland.

Changes in the labour force 05/2001 - 05/2002, thousand

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	May 2002	May 2001	CHANGE, % 05/01 - 05/02
Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey:
Employed, total	2 400	2 397	0.1
- wage-earners	2 086	2 089	-0.1
Employment rate, %	68.5	68.5	0.0 ²
Unemployed¹	323	304	6.4
Labour force, total	2 723	2 701	0.8
Unemployment rate, %	11.9	11.3	0.6 ²
Economically inactive, total	1 192	1 207	-1.3
- discouraged job seekers	23	32	-27.5
- other disguised unemployment	70	71	-1.4
Ministry of Labour's Labour Exchange Statistics:
Unemployed job seekers	276	283	-2.5
- unemployed over a year	77	82	-6.5
Employed with subsidised measures	39	41	-4.8
In labour market training	26	28	-7.8
In trainee and job alternation places	15	16	-5.3
New vacancies in labour exchange offices	36	38	-5.0
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 323,000 unemployed in May, i.e. 19,000 more than the year before. The rate of unemployment was 11.9 per cent, while it was 11.3 per cent one year previously. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate grew slightly and was 9.3 per cent.

The unemployment figures of the Labour Force Survey for May were higher than in April especially due to the fact that students have entered the labour market but many of them have not yet found a job. Of all unemployed persons, 125,000 were full-time students. Their number was 116,000 a year ago.

The unemployment rate for men went up by 1.6 percentage points to 12.4 per cent. The unemployment rate for women was 11.3 per cent, while it was 11.7 per cent one year earlier. The unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 33.4 per cent, against 32.0 per cent in May 2001. Adjusted for seasonal variation, the unemployment rate for young people was 21.0 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, i.e. 9.0 per cent, and highest in the Province of Lapland, at 24.4 per cent. Of the industries, the unemployment rate was highest in construction, 13.2 per cent.

At the end of May, there were 276,000 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 7,000 fewer than in May 2001. Unemployment declined in other areas but rose in the areas of the employment and economic development centres of Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi. The number of those covered by employment policy measures fell by 5,000 from the year before and was 3.1 per cent of the labour force. There were 31,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the labour exchange offices. Their number was the same as in last year's May.

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 May unemployment figures of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Labour was somewhat greater than 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 ± 17,000 persons.

Inquiries:
Statistics Finland: Mr Pekka Tossavainen +358 9 1734 3517, Ms Salme Kiiski +358 9 1734 3230, Mr Kalle Sinivuori +358 9 1734 3524, Mr Veli Rajaniemi +358 9 1734 3434;
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/