In October 2018, the number of employed persons was 2,535,000, which was 43,000 higher than a year earlier. There were 14,000 more employed men and 29,000 more employed women than in October 2017, according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey,
The employment rate , that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood in october at 71.5 per cent, having been 70.0 per cent one year earlier. From last year’s October, men’s employment rate rose by 0.9 percentage points to 72.0 per cent and women’s by 2.1 percentage points to 71.0 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 71.8 per cent.
Employment rate and trend of employment rate 2008/10–2018/10, persons aged 15–64
According to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey, there were 171,000 unemployed in October 2018, this is 26,000 fewer than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 95,000 and that of women 76,000.
At 6.3 per cent, the unemployment rate was 1.0 percentage points lower in October than one year earlier. The unemployment rate of men decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 6.8 per cent, and that of women by 1.4 percentage points to 5.8 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.2 per cent.
Young people and employment
In October, there were a total of 617,000 young people aged 15 to 24. Of them, 232,000 were employed and 40,000 unemployed. The number of young people in the active population, i.e. the employed and unemployed in total, was 273,000.
In October, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24, that is, the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force, stood at 14.7 per cent, which was 2.4 percentage points higher than one year previously. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 17.5 per cent. The share of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 among the population in the same age group was 6.5 per cent.
There were 1,419,000 persons in the inactive population in October 2018, which was 10,000 fewer than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 130,000 persons were in disguised unemployment , which was 7,000 fewer than in October 2017.
Changes in employment 2017/10 – 2018/10, population aged 15 to 74
Job seekers statistics
At the end of October 2018, there were a total of 230,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as job seekers at the employment and economic development offices. The number of unemployed job seekers was 42,000 lower than in October of the year before.
Unemployment fell in October from the corresponding period in 2017 in the areas of all Employment and Economic Development Centres: most in Pirkanmaa (-25%), Ostrobothnia (-20%), Southeast Finland (-18%), South Ostrobothnia (-18%) and North Ostrobothnia (-18%). At the end of October, the number of fully laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 8,000, which was 2,000 fewer than twelve months earlier.
The number of persons engaged in services included in the activation rate totalled 131,000 at the end of October, which was 5,000 more than in October of the previous year. Altogether, 4.8 per cent of the labour force was covered by labour market policy services.
There were 28,000 unemployed job seekers aged under 25 registered at the employment and economic development offices. Their number was 4,000 lower than in last year's October. During this October, 57,000 new vacancies were reported to the employment and economic development offices, which was 9,000 more than in October 2017.
Changes 2017/10–2018/10 according to the Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment
