Finland sees highest unemployment rate in this century in May

Finland's unemployment rate rose to its highest level this century in May, while the number of unemployed people reached its highest level since 1998, according to Statistics Finland.

The number of unemployed persons aged 15 to 74 was 376,000 (margin of error ±28,000) in Finland in May 2026, which was 68,000 more than one year earlier.

The number of unemployed men was 203,000 and that of unemployed women 173,000.

In May, the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of persons stood at 12.7 per cent, having been 10.5 per cent one year earlier.

The unemployment rate of men stood at 13.1 per cent, which was 2.3 percentage points higher than one year before while the unemployment rate of women stood at 12.2 per cent, which was 2.0 percentage points higher than in the previous year.

In May, the share of the unemployed aged 15 to 24 among the labour force stood at 37.8 per cent, which was 9.7 percentage points higher than one year earlier.

Meanwhile, in May 2026, the number of employed persons aged 15 to 74 was 2,594,000 (margin of error ±31,000), which was 32,000 fewer than one year earlier.

There were 6,000 fewer employed men and 26,000 fewer employed women than in May last year.

In May, the non-seasonally adjusted employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 20 to 64, stood at 76.5 per cent, having been 77.0 per cent in this age group one year earlier.

The employment rate of men aged 20 to 64 grew by 0.1 percentage points to 77.6 per cent and the employment rate of women fell by 1.2 percentage points to 75.3 per cent from one year ago.

The employment rate of persons aged 20 to 69 fell by 0.5 percentage points from last year's May to 71.1 per cent.

News agency Xinhua adds: Unemployment figures typically reach their annual peak in May, as students and recent graduates enter the labour market, said Joanna Viinikka, senior statistician at Statistics Finland.

Many young people are looking either for summer jobs or for their first job after graduation in an already highly competitive labour market, she said.

Youth unemployment accounted for a large part of the increase. The number of unemployed people aged 15 to 24 was about 44,000 higher than a year earlier, representing roughly two thirds of the annual increase in the total number of unemployed persons.

The employment situation also weakened. Viinikka noted that the employment-rate trend was last at this level in early 2021, when Finland was still recovering from the downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The size of the labour force has remained high for a long time, so there is potential for employment growth once the labour market starts to pick up again," Viinikka said.

In a separate labour market forecast published earlier, Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment said the country's annual unemployment rate is expected to remain high at around 10.2 percent in 2026 before falling to 9.8 percent in 2027 and 9.3 percent in 2028.

The ministry said the high unemployment rate has been driven by growth in the labour force, while demand for labour has remained subdued. It said the labour force has grown particularly because of increased labour-market participation among older people.