There were over a quarter of a million people out of work in Finland in November last year, or 10.6 percent of the workforce.
Open image viewer
File photo. Image: Henrietta Hassinen / Yle
Finland’s unemployment rate is statistically the worst in the European Union, according to figures published on Thursday by Eurostat, the European Commission’s data-crunching agency.
The stats show that there were over a quarter of a million people out of work in Finland in November, representing 10.6 percent of the workforce.
This rate is higher than that of Spain, which previously held the unwanted top spot in the EU’s unemployment charts.
The bleak situation marks Finland’s highest unemployment rate since the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009, and reflects the poor state of the Finnish economy compared to other EU member states.
As a point of comparison, the unemployment rate in the Netherlands in November was just 4 percent, while the EU average was 6 percent.
The long-term trends also reveal that countries in southern parts of Europe which have traditionally had stubbornly high unemployment rates — such as Spain and Greece — have significantly improved their situations over the past decade.
At the same time, Finland’s trend — and that of Sweden too — has moved in the opposite direction.
Finland’s rising unemployment rate can be at least partly explained by the fact that the country’s labour force has grown, in particular because of increased numbers of people moving to Finland from abroad in recent years.
However, their arrival has coincided with a downturn in the Finnish economy and increased difficulty in finding work.
In addition, Finland’s government has introduced a number of measures which have been criticised by immigrant associations as making life more difficult for newcomers.
However, despite the latest unemployment figures from Eurostat, Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has argued that the situation will improve during the coming 12 months.
In a statement, the ministry noted that the number of people in employment in Finland has increased by about 25,000 over the past year, and more positions are becoming available in certain sectors.