HELSINKI: The unemployment rate in February 2016 was 9.4 per cent, having been 10.1 per cent in the year before, according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey. The number of unemployed persons was 248,000, which was 20,000 fewer than one year ago.
The number of persons in the inactive population was 39,000 higher than one year earlier. There were 1,480,000 persons in the inactive population in February 2016. Of the inactive population, 156,000 persons were in disguised unemployment. In February 2016, the number of employed persons was 2,382,000, which was 10,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 2,000 fewer employed men and 8,000 fewer employed women than in February 2015.
In February 2016, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 66.7 per cent, having been 66.6 per cent one year earlier. The employment rate for men grew by 0.2 percentage points from last year’s February to 66.9 per cent. The employment rate for women fell by 0.2 percentage points to 66.4 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 68.2 per cent.
The number of unemployed men was 140,000 and that of women 107,000. Men’s unemployment rate was 10.4 per cent and women’s 8.4 per cent. The trend of the unemployment rate was 9.2 per cent.
In February, there were a total of 639,000 young people aged 15 to 24. Of them, 220,000 were employed and 70,000 unemployed, according to the findings. At the end of February 2016, there were altogether 361,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as unemployed job seekers at the employment and economic development offices. The number of unemployed job seekers was 6,000 higher than in February 2015.
