EMPLOYMENT increased and unemployment decreased in Finland in July, reports Statistics Finland.
Its preliminary statistics reveal that the trend of the unemployment rate stood at 72.7 per cent at the end of last month, matching the level witnessed before the onset of the coronavirus crisis in February 2020.
“You could say that some kind of a milestone has been reached in the labour market in regards to recovery from the coronavirus crisis,” commented Jukka Appelqvist, an economist at Danske Bank.
The ranks of the employed swelled by 86,000 from the previous year to slightly over 2.6 million, with men accounting for 45,000 and women 41,000 of the increase.
Appelqvist characterised the recent employment growth as fairly strong. The economy overall, he added, is experiencing a broad-based recovery that has especially boosted the labour-intensive service sectors, thereby hoisting employment to a high level.
The trend of the unemployment rate, meanwhile, stood at 7.9 per cent, following a decline of 5,000 in the ranks of the jobless. Roughly 99,000 men and 103,000 women were without a job at the end of July.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
