HELSINKI: The number of unemployed persons in April 2015 was 280,000, which was 39,000 higher than the corresponding period one year ago with the unemployment rate being 10.3 per cent, according to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey.
The unemployment rate in April of the year before was, however, 9.0 per cent. The number of persons in the inactive population was 14,000 lower than one year earlier. In April 2015, the number of employed persons was 2,429,000, which was 19,000 lower than a year earlier, the data show.
There were almost the same number of employed men and 21,000 fewer employed women than in April 2014. In April, the employment rate, that is, the proportion of the employed among persons aged 15 to 64, stood at 67.7 per cent, which was 0.5 percentage points lower than one year earlier. Unemployment rate and trend of unemployment rate 2005/04–2015/04, persons aged 15–74. Source: Labour force survey 2015, April. Statistics Finland.
The employment rate of men remained unchanged at 67.6 per cent and that of women declined by 1.1 percentage points to 67.9 per cent. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 68.1 per cent.
At the end of April, the number of temporarily laid off persons registered at the employment and economic development offices was 28,000, which was 2,000 higher than twelve months earlier.