The number of unemployed people in Finland was up slightly during the month of July compared to the same period last year, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
The report revealed that there were a total of 278,700 jobseekers registered with employment services across the country last month, an increase of over 6,500 from July 2022.
This also represents an increase of 14,000 people from June’s jobseekers figure.
This trend is backed by separate figures published on Tuesday by Statistics Finland, which put Finland’s employment rate trend for July at 74.2, with 62,000 fewer people in employment in July compared to the same month of 2022.
Finland’s unemployment rate in July was 7.2 percent, according to the number-crunching agency’s latest Labour Force Survey, 0.3 percentage points higher than one year ago.
Fewer job vacancies
The ministry’s report also found a drop in the number of job vacancies last month.
A total of 50,100 new job vacancies were posted in July, nearly 25,000 fewer than a year previously.
Overall there were just over 100,000 open positions in Finland during the month of July, which is about 60,000 fewer than one year ago.
Long-term unemployment down
While the employment and unemployment figures for July do paint a gloomier economic picture than one year ago, one positive development in the figures was provided by a drop in the number of long-term unemployed.
The ministry’s figures found that there were 92,200 people considered to be long-term unemployed during July, a drop of over 3,000 compared to the same period last year.
In addition, data covering unemployed young people between January and July revealed that 57.9 percent were unemployed for less than three months.
Kela: Immigrant communities need more income support
A separate report published on Tuesday by Finland’s social benefits agency Kela revealed that people of immigrant backgrounds tend to be more in need of social welfare payments than the general population.
The agency reported that over 300,000 people received some form of unemployment benefit last year, of which 26 percent were of foreign background.
This group is defined by the agency as people who speak as their mother tongue a language other than Finnish, Swedish or Sami.
This group made up 9 percent of the population of Finland in 2022.
“The share of foreign background people among Kela’s unemployment support recipients indicates the weaker position of those who moved to the country for work. Unemployment is more common, and many are just entering the labour market,” Kela’s research manager Signe Jauhiainenwork in an agency press release.
Kela also noted that the immigrant community is underrepresented in the provision of some social welfare payments, such as medical benefits and pensions.
Source: Yle
