Finland's August employment rate was up significantly from a year earlier but nearly unchanged from the previous month, the official statistics bureau reported on Tuesday.
According to Statistics Finland, the employment rate was 73.5 percent, compared to 72.6 percent a year earlier. However the trend of the employment rent was 72.5 percent in August, nearly unchanged from July. The trend of the unemployment rate was the same as the previous month: 6.7 percent. The trend figures are seasonally adjusted.
There were 32,000 more people aged 15-64 working in August than a year before. The vast majority of this increase, 27,000, were women.
Meanwhile the employment gap between the sexes continued to narrow, but still remained higher for men. Women's employment rate surged by two percentage points to 72.8 percent, while that for men edged down 0.2 percentage points to 74.2 percent.
Joblessness only up in Tampere region
Based on data collected by Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, there were 67,500 new jobs on offer in August at Employment and Economic Development Centres, also known as TE offices. That was 8,500 more than the new jobs that opened in August 2018.
Altogether TE centres had more than 118,000 jobs available this August, nearly 15,000 more than in the previous late summer period.
Last month, unemployment decreased year-on-year in all TE districts except Pirkanmaa, which includes Tampere, where it rose by two percent. The biggest improvements were in Häme, South Ostrobothnia, Southwest Finland, North Karelia and Kainuu, which all saw their unemployment rates drop by 8-9 percent.