HELSINKI: The unemployment rate in December 2015 was 9.2 per cent, having been 8.8 per cent in the year before. The number of unemployed persons was 241,000, which was 9,000 higher than one year ago, according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey.
There were 25,000 fewer employed than in December of the previous year. The unemployment rate in the fourth quarter was 8.7 per cent, which was 0.3 percentage points higher than in the respective quarter of 2014. The unemployment rate In 2015was on average 9.4 per cent, having been 8.7 per cent in 2014.
In December 2015, the number of employed persons was 2,387,000, which was 25,000 lower than a year earlier. There were 13,000 fewer employed men and 12,000 fewer employed women than in December 2014, the data show. In December 2015, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 66.9 per cent, having been 67.4 per cent one year earlier.
From last year’s December, men’s employment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 67.7 per cent and women’s by 0.6 percentage points to 66.2 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 68.3 per cent as per statistics.
The number of unemployed men was 129,000 and that of women 112,000. There were 1,481,000 persons in the inactive population in December 2015, which was 26,000 more than one year earlier. Of the inactive population, 154,000 persons were in disguised unemployment, which was 16,000 more than in December 2014.
At the end of December 2015, there were altogether 378,000 persons registered in accordance with the Employment Office Regulations as job seekers at the employment and economic development offices. The number of unemployed job seekers was 15,000 higher than in December 2014.
