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Published: 21 July 2020

Employment decreased and unemployment increased clearly in June

According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people was 87,000 lower in June 2020 than one year ago. There were 47,000 more unemployed than in June 2019. The trend of the employment rate was 72.4 per cent and the trend of the unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent.

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2010/06–2020/06, persons aged 15–64

Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2010/06–2020/06, persons aged 15–64

Employment and unemployment vary quite considerably by month and the change from the observation of the previous month mainly describes the seasonal aspect rather than the trend in development. Thus, the latest statistical data are compared to the corresponding period of the year before. By contrast, the figures of the trend series that are adjusted for seasonal and random variation are mutually comparable and phenomena associated with long-term development and cyclical changes are thus more easily observable from the trend of the time series.

The trend usually changes somewhat when the data of the following month are included in the time series. The preliminary nature of the latest trend figures should be considered when making conclusions. The figures reported in this release are not adjusted for seasonal variation unless separately mentioned that they concern the trend. Find out more about the trend here .

The trend of the employment rate was 72.4 per cent in June and 72.5 per cent in May. The trend of the unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent in June, as it was also in May.

In June 2020, the number of employed persons was 2,586,000 (margin of error ±36,000), which was 87,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 27,000 fewer employed men and 61,000 fewer employed women than in June 2019.

In June, the employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 73.7 per cent, having been 75.7 per cent one year earlier. The employment rate of men aged 15 to 64 fell by 1.0 percentage points to 75.6 per cent and that of women fell by 3.2 percentage points to 71.6 per cent from last year’s June.

According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 223,000 unemployed (margin of error ±22,000) in June 2020, i.e. 47,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 112,000 and that of women 111,000.

The unemployment rate was 7.9 per cent in June, having been 6.2 per cent in the year before. The unemployment rate for men grew by 0.8 percentage points to 7.6 per cent from last year’s June. The unemployment rate for women rose by 2.8 percentage points to 8.3 per cent.

In June, there were a total of 608,000 young people aged 15 to 24 . Of them, 321,000 were employed and 85,000 unemployed. Thus, the number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 406,000. In June, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 20.9 per cent, which was 5.7 percentage points higher than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 18.1 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 14.0 per cent.

There were 1,326,000 persons in the inactive population in June 2020, which was 50,000 more than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 179,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 47,000 more than in June 2019.

Changes in employment 2019/06 – 2020/06 according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Month Change
2019/06 2020/06 2019/06 - 2020/06
1000 persons Per cent, %
Population total 4 125 4 135 0,2
Active population total 2 849 2809 –1,4
Employed 2 673 2 586 –3,3
– employees 2 313 2 232 –3,5
– self-employed persons and unpaid family workers 360 353 –1,9
Unemployed 176 223 26,5
Inactive population 1 276 1 326 3,9
– persons in disguised unemployment 131 179 36,0
  Per cent, % Percentage points
Employment rate, persons aged 15–64 75,7 73,7 –2,1
Unemployment rate 6,2 7,9 1,8
Activity rate 69,1 67,9 –1,1
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.

Labour Force Survey data for the second quarter of 2020

In the second quarter (April to June) of 2020, the average number of employed persons was 2,514,000, or 79,000 lower than in the corresponding quarter of 2019. The number of employed persons decreased most in wholesale and retail trade (G) and accommodation and food service activities (I).

The number of hours worked by employed persons was 6.4 per cent lower in the second quarter of 2020 than in the year before.

The average number of unemployed persons in the second quarter of 2020 was 245,000, which was 30,000 more than in the April to June period of 2019. The unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2020 was 8.9 per cent, which was 1.2 percentage points higher than in the respective period of 2019.

In the second quarter of 2020, the number of persons in the inactive population was 1,375,000, which was 58,000 higher than a year earlier. Of the inactive population, 179,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 67,000 more than in the corresponding period of 2019.

Changes in employment 2019/II – 2020/II according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, population aged 15 to 74

  Year/Quarter Change
2019/II 2020/II 2019/II - 2020/II
1000 persons Per cent (%)
Active population total 2 808 2 759 –1,8
Employed persons total 2 593 2 514 –3,1
Unemployed total 215 245 14,1
– men 120 130 8,9
– women 95 115 20,7
Inactive population 1 317 1 375 4,4
– persons in disguised unemployment 111 179 60,6
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.
The data comply with the ILO/EU definition.


Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

At the end of June 2020, there were altogether 417,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as unemployed job seekers at the employment and economic development offices . The number of unemployed job seekers was 163,000 higher than in June last year.

Unemployment grew in June from the corresponding period in the previous year in the areas of all Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres): most in Uusimaa (85%), Ostrobothnia (79%), Pirkanmaa (70%), Southwest Finland (64%) and South Ostrobothnia (63%). The number of unemployed job seekers grew least in Kainuu (28%), North Karelia (36%) and South Savo (42%). At the end of June, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 117,000, which was 107,000 more than twelve months earlier.

The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 98,000 at the end of June, which was 12,000 fewer than in June of the year before. Altogether, 3.5 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.

There were 59,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 24,000 higher than in last year's June. During this June, 48,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which is 5,000 fewer than in June of the previous year.

Changes 2019/06–2020/06 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

  Year/Month Change
2019/06 2020/06 2019/06 - 2020/06
1000 persons Per cent, %
Unemployed job seekers 254 417 64,0
– unemployed over a year 64 75 17,8
Services, total 110 98 –10,7
– employed 25 21 –14,7
– in labour market training, in training 19 22 15,1
– engaged in work/training trials 9 5 –44,1
– as a job alternation substitute, in rehabilitative work, self-motivated studies supported by unemployment benefit 57 50 –12,6
New vacancies at employment and economic development offices 53 48 –9,2
Unrounded figures are used in the Change column.

Contact information for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment:
Petri Syvänen, tel. +358 29 504 8050, Employment bulletin

Links

The new classification of the employer sector was adopted in the Labour Force Survey starting from 1 January 2020. Comparison data according to the new classification of employer sectors for 2019 are published only in the appendix tables of the monthly and quarterly releases.

Labour Force Survey tables in databases

About seasonally adjusted trend

The accuracy of figures and the margins of error are explained in the quality description of the Labour Force Survey .

Comparison between the employment statistics of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment

Job vacancy survey

The latest seasonally adjusted employment figures published by the EU and
the latest data on open job vacancies published by the EU can be found on
Eurostat's home page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat .


Source: Labour force survey 2020, June. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Pertti Taskinen 029 551 2690, Kirsi Toivonen 029 551 3535, tyovoimatutkimus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (631.3 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

Appendix tables

Figures
Quality descriptions

Updated 21.7.2020

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Labour force survey [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-7857. June 2020. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2020/06/tyti_2020_06_2020-07-21_tie_001_en.html