Unemployment rate continues to rise in Finland in March

The number of employed people aged 15 to 74 was 22,000 lower while the number of unemployed persons in the same age group was 30,000 higher in March 2026 compared to the previous year, according to Statistics Finland.

The trend of the employment rate was 75.5 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 10.4 per cent.

In March 2026, the number of employed persons aged 15 to 74 was 2,524,000 (margin of error ±29,000). There were 5,000 fewer employed men and 16,000 fewer employed women than in March last year.

The employment rate of menfell by 0.7 percentage points to 74.7 per cent and the employment rate of women fell by 2.0 percentage points to 73.7 per cent from one year ago.

The number of unemployed persons was 315,000 (margin of error ±24,000), which was 30,000 more than one year earlier. The number of unemployed men was 169,000 and that of unemployed women 146,000.

In March, the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of persons or the proportion of the unemployed among the labour force stood at 11.1 per cent, having been 10.1 per cent one year earlier.

The unemployment rate of men stood at 11.5 per cent, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than one year before. The unemployment rate of women stood at 10.7 per cent, which was 1.9 percentage points higher than in the previous year.