Statistics Finland's Labour Force survey shows an unemployment rate of 9.8 percent at the end of April. One year earlier the unemployment rate was at 10.3 percent, and at 10.1 percent in March.
The data showed 264,000 people out of work, 16,000 less than one year earlier, but well within the agency's 20,000-person margin of error.
The agency also noted that its numbers showed an increase of 32,000 in the number of people who had dropped out of the active workforce.
The employment rate in Finland has risen modestly from 67.7 percent to 67.9 percent in a year's time.
Local employment offices had a total of 341,000 registered unemploymed jobseekers in late April, 2,000 people more than a year ago. Jobseekers numbered at ten thousand more at the end of March.
Finland's largest unemployment fund the YTK said on Monday that 11.5 percent of its members were unemployed in April, down slightly from last year.
The slowing down of Finland's unemployment began last October, when the number of jobseekers rose by some 5.5 percent, compared with this April's mere 0.7 percent.
