Employment bulletin of the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, August 2010

According to the Employment Service Statistics, at the end of August the number of unemployed jobseekers registered at Employment and Economic Development Offices totalled 256,800, down 12,700 on the previous year. Compared with July, the number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 32,100.

The decrease in unemployment from the previous month was due to seasonal factors such as the beginning of the school year, a reduction in lay-offs and other drivers of a more active labour market following the holiday period.

The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during August totalled 41,700, or 9,800 more than August in the previous year.

At the end of August, unemployed jobseekers under 25 years of age numbered 33,700, representing a decrease by 3,100 from August a year ago.

For those over 50, this figure was 86,900, up 5,100 on the year before. Among those over 55, the number of unemployed was 59,900, representing an increase of 4,800 on the year before. The numbers of unemployed jobseekers by age group do not include laid-off workers.

At the end of August, the number of long-term unemployed who had been unemployed without interruption for more than a year amounted to 57,000, up 15,900 on the previous year.

The number of foreign citizens among unemployed jobseekers totalled 18,900, up 1,500 from August a year ago. Of these foreign unemployed jobseekers, EU/EEA citizens accounted for 3,900 at the end of August, up 200 from the year before.