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Published: 20 October 2009

Number of employed in September 75,000 lower than one year ago

The number of employed persons was 75,000 lower in September 2009 than in September 2008. The number of unemployed persons increased by 34,000 and the unemployment rate went up by 1.4 percentage points. In the third quarter of the year (July to September) the number of employed persons fell by an average of 90,000. Employment decreased mainly in male-dominated industries.

According to the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland, the number of employed persons in September 2009 was 2,436,000, or 75,000 lower than a year earlier. The number of wage and salary earners decreased but that of self-employed persons increased slightly. The number of employed persons fell in all provinces.

In September 2009, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.6 per cent, or 2.3 percentage points lower than one year earlier. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 67.5 per cent. From last year’s September, men’s employment rate fell by 3.5 percentage points to 68.3 per cent and women’s by 1.1 percentage points to 67.0 per cent.

According to the Labour Force Survey, there were 192,000 unemployed persons in September 2009, i.e. 34,000 more than in September of the year before. The number of unemployed men grew by 23,000 and that of unemployed women by 12,000.

Changes in the labour force 2009/09 – 2008/09 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey

  Year/Month Change
2009/09 2008/09 2009/09 - 2008/09
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Population aged 15-74 4 030 4 009 0,5
Labour force, total 2 628 2 670 –1,5
Employed, total 2 436 2 511 –3,0
– employees 2 094 2 179 –3,9
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 342 332 3,0
Unemployed persons 192 158 21,5
Total persons not in labour force 1 401 1 339 4,7
  Per cent (%) Percentage points
Employment rate (persons aged 15 to 64), % 67,6 70,0 –2,3
Unemployment rate, % 7,3 5,9 1,4
Labour force participation rate, % 65,2 66,6 –1,4
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

At 7.3 per cent, the unemployment rate was 1.4 percentage points higher in September than one year earlier. The trend of the unemployment rate was 8.4 per cent in September. The unemployment rate for men rose by 1.8 percentage points to 7.6 per cent, and that for women by 0.9 percentage points to 7.0 per cent. In September 2009, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 16.5 per cent, which was 3.9 percentage points higher than in the previous year’s September. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 21.6 per cent. The rate of unemployment was lowest in the Province of Southern Finland, where it stood at 6.2 per cent, and highest in the Province of Lapland, at 9.9 per cent.

In September, there were 1,401,000 persons of working age not in the labour force, which was 63,000 more than one year earlier.

Labour Force Survey data for the third quarter

Average figures on employment and unemployment are presented below for the third quarter of 2009. These figures are more accurate than the monthly data as they are based on a sample of three months. The quarterly data allow the presentation of more detailed data by e.g. industry or region, for which the monthly sample is insufficient.

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

  Year/Quarter Change
2009/III 2008/III 2009/III - 2008/III
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Labour force, total 2 679 2 717 –1,4
Employed, total 2 476 2 566 –3,5
Unemployed, total 202 151 33,8
– men 106 70 52,5
– women 96 81 17,8
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the number of employed persons in the third quarter of 2009 averaged 2,476,000, which was 90,000 persons fewer than one year previously. The number of employed men decreased by 67,000 and that of employed women by 23,000. The number of employed persons fell in all provinces, but in absolute numbers by most, or by 41,000, in the Province of Western Finland. Despite the fall in the number of employees, the number of self-employed persons was, on the average, 6,000 persons higher in the third quarter than in the respective period of the year before. Among employees, the proportion employed in fixed-term jobs diminished and that of persons employed in part-time jobs increased.

In the third quarter of the year, the number of employed persons diminished most in manufacturing (–49,000), construction (–17,000) and wholesale trade (–14,000). Growth was recorded in, for example, health and social work. Data on employment by industry are now published for the third time from the Labour Force Survey by the revised, national TOL 2008 Standard Industrial Classification. The revised classification is based on the NACE Rev. 2 classification of the European Union and differs in many respects from its predecessor TOL 2002. The differences are explained more closely on Statistics Finland’s website at: http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tol2008_en.html .

Hours worked decreased by 6.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2009. Over the same time period, the number of employed persons diminished by 3.5 per cent, so the number of hours worked per employed person has fallen.

The number of unemployed persons was 51,000 higher in the third quarter of 2009 than one year previously. In the third quarter of the year the rate of unemployment stood at 7.5 per cent, having grown by 2.0 percentage points from twelve months back. Men's unemployment rate rose by 2.8 percentage points to 7.7 per cent and women’s by 1.2 percentage points to 7.4 per cent.

Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

At the end of September 2009, there were altogether 266,000 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 77,000 higher than in September 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 South Ostrobothnia (61%), Varsinais-Suomi (59%) and Pirkanmaa (55%). At the end of September the number of temporarily laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 30,000, which was 24,000 more than twelve months earlier. The number of persons covered by labour market policy measures totalled 79,000 the end of September, which was 5,000 fewer than in September of the year before. Altogether 3.0 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy measures. There were 34,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 14,000 higher than in last year’s September. During this September, 30,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which is 15,000 fewer than in September 2008.

Changes 2009/09 – 2008/09 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

  Year/Month Change
2009/09 2008/09 2009/09 - 2008/09
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Unemployed job seekers 266 188 41,1
– unemployed over a year 42 42 –0,5
Total measures 79 84 –6,2
– employed with subsidised measures 33 38 –14,4
– in labour market training 29 29 1,8
– in trainee and job alternation places 17 17 –1,2
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 30 45 –32,7
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 (incl. monthly tables as well as 17 quarterly tables in English and four updated Px-Web database tables in Finnish only): 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, September. Statistics Finland

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

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

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Updated 20.10.2009

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. September 2009. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2009/09/tyti_2009_09_2009-10-20_tie_001_en.html