Unemployment | Unemployment among members of Finland’s largest unemployment fund fell clearly

FINLAND unemployment among the members of the largest unemployment fund, YTK, fell clearly in May compared to April.

According to YTK, the unemployment rate of its members was 7.2 percent in May. The decrease from the previous month was 1.2 percentage points. YTK says in its press release that the last time its members’ unemployment fell by the same amount was in June 2023.

According to YTK, the unemployment of its members decreased in May in almost all industries. Unemployment fell the most in the environmental and construction sectors. It is not a surprise, as unemployment in both sectors is always lowest in the summer.

“The decrease in unemployment in these sectors coincides with a typical time of the season, so it was not a surprise”, CEO of YTK Auli Hänninen says in the announcement.

“Furthermore, during the past year, unemployment in both has been higher than in other sectors, so even a small improvement can be seen in a big way.”

In May, unemployment among YTK members decreased faster for men than for women. In May, men’s unemployment decreased by 1.5 percentage points and women’s by 0.8 percentage points.

Among the various age groups, the unemployment of 56–68 year olds fell the fastest. By province, unemployment decreased the most in Kymenlaakso, South Karjala and Satakunta.

Statistics Finland on the other hand, said on Wednesday that unemployment in Finland had increased compared to the previous year.

According to the labor force survey published by Statistics Finland, there were 35,000 fewer employed people aged 15–74 in May than a year ago in May. A total of 2,645,000 people were employed.

There were 33,000 more unemployed people compared to a year ago. There were 299,000 unemployed in total, of which 168,000 were men and 131,000 were women.

In May, the trend figure for Finland’s employment rate was 76.9 percent in the age group 20–64. The trend figure for unemployment, on the other hand, was 8.2 percent in the age group 15–74.

Random and seasonal fluctuations have been removed from Statistics Finland’s trend figures in order to give a better picture of the development of employment.

According to the Ministry of Labor and the Economy, the number of unemployed job seekers increased by 27,500 people in May from a year ago. At the end of May, there were a total of 266,400 unemployed jobseekers. However, the number of unemployed jobseekers decreased by 9,000 people from April.

The number of furloughed people increased by 10,200 from May last year to a total of 30,200 people.

Unemployment fund YTK says in its press release that it has received fewer daily allowance applications in June than in May.

The unemployment fund received 1.–23. in June there were a total of 36,083 daily allowance applications, while the previous month there were 40,213 applications at the same time.

According to Hänninen, the decrease in the number of applications suggests that unemployment may continue to fall.

“However, this will not be known for sure until the end of the month.”

In May, the unemployment fund paid just under 67 million euros in daily allowances. The amount of daily allowances paid decreased by more than 15 percent from April.

YTK has a total of 522,791 members, which corresponds to more than 20 percent of Finland’s wage earners. You can become a member of the fund regardless of the field you work in. An employee who belongs to a trade union as well as a non-union employee can belong to the general unemployment fund.