Number of unemployed jobseekers on wane in Sep

A total of 232,900 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment at the end of September, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in a press release on Tuesday.

The number is 32,400 fewer than a year earlier and 6,200 fewer than in the previous month.

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 131,700, or 11,500 fewer than in September a year ago, were customers of municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment.

The number of unemployed jobseekers also includes those fully laid off.

At the end of September, the number of people laid off was 14,600 in the whole country, which was 16,900 fewer than at the same time the year before.

The number of people fully laid off totalled 9,400, representing a decrease of 11,600 from September the year before. The number of people fully laid off decreased by 200 from August.

The number of long-term unemployed — i.e. those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 89,900, down 19,500 on the previous year.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 88,900, or 13,000 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

Unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 24,100, representing a decrease of 5,300 from September last year.

Of the unemployment periods of youths, 61.3 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and September. This is 1.2 percentage points more than the year before.

The number of new vacancies reported during September totalled 89,400, or 7,100 fewer than in September the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in September amounted to 171,500, which is 1,300 more than a year ago.

At the end of September, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 113,000, up 2,200 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, rehabilitative work and self-motivated studies.

According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in September the number of people in employment was 86,000 more than on the previous year.

The trend of the employment rate was 73.8%, which was 1.2 percentage points higher than in September the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 189,000, which is 2,000 less than a year ago.

The trend of the unemployment rate was 7.2%, which is the same number as the year before.