Recovery in metals industry improves employment situation

Government employment goal appears feasible

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According to a recent employment survey by Statistics Finland, there were 54,000 more people with jobs in January than at the same time last year. As many as 15,000 of the new jobs emerged in the metals industry. Industry as a whole accounted for 32,000 of the new jobs.
      The new industrial jobs are spread fairly evenly around the country. Growth was strongest in the southern region of Uusimaa, as well as the western regions of Finland Proper, Satakunta, and Ostrobothnia. The construction of a new nuclear reactor at Olkiluoto is reflected in the surge in employment in the west.
     
"Now we can say for the first time that the government's goal of 100,000 new jobs during the current four-year term appears likely. It might even go a bit over that. We are 64,000 jobs ahead of the spring of 2003", says Pekka Tiainen of the Ministry of Labour.
      In Tiainen's view, the new jobs in industry have emerged mainly in small and medium-sized companies. The growth is partly an illusion, as cutbacks in large companies mean that there are still 16,000 fewer industrial jobs than there were three years ago.
      "The observed recovery in industry is nevertheless a significant matter. Compared with December, there are 5,000 more jobs, which is getting to be fairly good development on an annual level."
     
The unemployment rate declined by more than a percentage point in a year to 8.7 percent. When seasonal variations are taken into consideration, the unemployment rate in Finland is already below the European Union average.


Links:
  Statistics Finland

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