Unemployment rate drops in December

The number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 14,900, according to Statistics Finland.

The number of new vacancies reported in December totalled 72,600. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies amounted to 129,500, which is 35,000 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of December, a total of 260,400 unemployed jobseekers were registered at the Employment and Economic Development Offices and municipalities participating in the local government pilots on employment. This is 14,900 fewer than a year earlier and 25,600 more than in the previous month.

Of the unemployed jobseekers, 140,600, or 4,100 fewer than in December 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. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

At the end of December, the number of people laid off was 29,600 in the whole country, which was 4,400 fewer than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 23,600, representing a decrease of 1,800 from December the year before. The number of people fully laid off increased by 9,700 from November.

The number of long-term unemployed — i.e. those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — totalled 86,200, down 21,100 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 96,000, or 9,400 fewer than at the same time a year earlier.

The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 28,100, representing a decrease of 3,000 from December the year before. Of the unemployment periods of youths, 61.9 per cent ended before reaching three months between January and December. This is 0.8 percentage points more than the year before.

The number of new vacancies reported during December totalled 72,600, or 17,900 fewer than in December the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in December was 129,500, which is 35,000 fewer than a year ago.

At the end of December, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 107,200, up 3,000 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, rehabilitative work and self-motivated studies.