Unemployment Fell Slowly Last Year

Helsinki (03.02.1998 - Juhani Artto) On average last year there were 45,000 more jobs for wage and salary earners than in 1996. The number of unemployed workers fell by 33,000.

The unemployment rate in 1997 was 14.5 per cent, compared with 15.8 per cent in 1996. The unemployment rate was 14.0 per cent for men and 15.0 per cent for women. There was a slight easing of serious youth unemployment. In 1997 the rate was 26.8 per cent, compared with 28.1 per cent in 1996.

The main figures of the 1997 labour force study conducted by Statistics Finland are as follows:

Among those aged between 15 and 74 years, 1.3 million people were outside of the labour force. This figure includes 88,000 people in so-called hidden unemployment. Of these, 18,000 were not actively seeking work because they considered the search to be hopeless.