Employment Service Statistics

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy compiles statistics on the clients of the Employment and economic development offices (TE offices): job-seekers registered at the TE offices, vacancies reported by employers and also labour market policy measures which aim to advance the employment of the job-seekers. Measures included in the statistics are for example labour market training, subsidized employment, trainee work and job alternation leave.

Most of the job-seekers are unemployed. They have to register as job-seekers among other things in order to receive unemployment allowance. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy compiles comprehensive statistics on unemployment, and announces every month the number of unemployed job-seekers and the number of people participating in labour market policy measures. This data is published once a month in the Employment bulletin.

In Finland, unemployment is monitored through two different statistics every month. The Labour force survey of Statistics Finland is based on sampling and the Employment service statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy on information in the TE offices’ customer register. The unemployment figures in the Labour force survey and the Employment service statistics differ from each other, because the two statistics are based on different criteria with regard to job-seeking activeness and labour market availability. The Employment service statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy are based on legislation and administrative provisions, whereas the Labour force survey of Statistics Finland follows the statistical recommendations of the ILO and the practices of Eurostat, the statistical office of the EC.

Further information on the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland and Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy is available in the report ”Työttömyys ja työllisyys tilastoissa - Tilastokeskuksen ja työministeriön tilastojen vertailua. Tilastokeskus, Työmarkkinat 2002:17”. The report is only available in Finnish.

The data in the Employment service statistics of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the data in the Labour force survey of Statistics Finland are released at the same time every month. The release date varies between the 21^st and the 27^th day of the month.