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Published: 22 December 2009

Number of employed 100,000 lower than one year ago

Corrected on 22 December 2009 at 10.30 am. Correction marked as red.

The number of employed persons was 100,000 lower in November 2009 than in November 2008. The rate of employment fell by 2.9 percentage points. The number of unemployed persons increased by 63,000 and the unemployment rate went up by 2.5 percentage points from twelve months back.

Employed and trend of employed 1989/01 – 2009/11

Employed and trend of employed 1989/01 – 2009/11

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, in November 2009 the number of employed persons was 2,410,000, or 100,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 78,000 fewer employed men and 22,000 fewer employed women than in November 2008. The number of wage and salary earners fell, especially those employed for a fixed term, but the number of self-employed persons grew. The number of employed persons decreased in all provinces.

In November, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.0 per cent, which was 2.9 percentage points lower than one year before. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 67.3 per cent. From last year’s November, men’s employment rate fell by 4.5 percentage points to 66.9 per cent and women’s by 1.2 percentage points to 67.0 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 224,000 unemployed in November 2009, i.e. 63,000 more than in November of the year before. The number of unemployed men grew by 49,000 and that of unemployed women by 14,000.

At 8.5 per cent, the unemployment rate was 2.5 percentage points higher in November than one year earlier. The trend of the unemployment rate rose to 9.0 per cent in November. The unemployment rate for men rose by 3.8 percentage points to 9.3 per cent, and that for women by 1.1 percentage points to 7.7 per cent. In November 2009, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 21.1 per cent, which was 7.2 percentage points higher than in the previous year’s November. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 22.3 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, where it stood at 7.6 per cent, and highest in the Province of Lapland, at 12.5 per cent.

In November, there were 1,399,000 persons of working age not in the labour force , which was 57,000 more than one year earlier.

Changes in the labour force 2009/11 – 2008/11 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey

  Year/Month Change
2009/11 2008/11 2009/11 - 2008/11
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Population aged 15-74 4 033 4 012 0,5
Labour force, total 2 634 2 671 –1,4
Employed, total 2 410 2 509 –4,0
– employees 2 055 2 179 –5,7
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 355 331 7,2
Unemployed persons 224 161 39,1
Total persons not in labour force 1 399 1 342 4,3
  Per cent (%) Percentage points
Employment rate (persons aged 15 to 64), % 67,0 69,8 –2,9
Unemployment rate, % 8,5 6,0 2,5
Labour force participation rate, % 65,3 66,6 –1,3
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

At the end of November 2009, there were altogether 274,000 persons registered, in accordance with the Unemployment Security Act and the Employment Office Regulations, as job seekers at the employment and economic development offices . The number of unemployed job seekers was 73,000 higher than in November 2008. Unemployment grew from the previous year in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres. The number of unemployed job seekers increased most in Varsinais-Suomi (56%), Uusimaa (52%) and Pirkanmaa (47%). At the end of November, the number of temporarily laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 33,000, which was 21,000 higher than twelve months earlier. At the end of November the number of persons covered by labour market policy measures totalled 86,000, or the same as in November of the year before. Altogether 3.2 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy measures. There were 33,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 12,000 higher than in last year's November. During this November, 27,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 2,000 fewer than in November 2008.

Changes 2009/11 – 2008/11 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

  Year/Month Change
2009/11 2008/11 2009/11 - 2008/11
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Unemployed job seekers 274 201 36,3
– unemployed over a year 45 40 11,2
Total measures 86 86 –0,2
– employed with subsidised measures 32 37 –13,3
– in labour market training 35 31 12,3
– in trainee and job alternation places 19 18 5,1
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 27 30 –8,3
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

Contact information for the Ministry of Employment and the Economy:
Mr Petri Syvänen, tel. +359 10 604 8050, http://www.tem.fi/employmentbulletin

Links

Tables of the Labour Force Survey: http://stat.fi/til/tyti/tau_en.html

Differences between the Labour Force Survey and the Employment Service Statistics are explained in the quality description of the Labour Force Survey.

About seasonally adjusted trend (in Finnish only): http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/tyti_2007-06-19_men_003.html .

Latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU  can be found under the theme of Population and social conditions on Eurostat's home page http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu.

Job vacancy survey : http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/atp/index_en.html


Source: Labour force survey 2009, November. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Veli Rajaniemi (09) 1734 3434, Kalle Sinivuori (09) 1734 3524, Juha Martikainen (09) 1734 3225, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

Publication in pdf-format (442.4 kB)

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Appendix tables

Figures
Quality descriptions

Updated 22.12.2009

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. November 2009. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 29.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2009/11/tyti_2009_11_2009-12-22_tie_001_en.html