Women’s employment figure reaches that of men

Recession has reduced number of jobs in male-dominated fields

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The spiralling growth in unemployment and the even more dizzying decline in jobs have caused a historic situation in Finland: for the first time ever, the numbers of women and men in work are practically the same.
      Before this recession, there have never been more women than men involved in working life in Finland, with the possible exception of perhaps the war years. This, despite the fact that for years Finland has had a higher employment rate among women than in many other countries.
     
The historic “breakthrough” took place already in March, when women’s employment rate momentarily exceeded that of men.
      Since then men and women have been neck and neck with regard to their employment rates.
      “Not even during the previous recession did women’s employment figures rise this close to those of men. For a few months now we have been close to the situation where women’s employment would exceed that of men more permanently”, says Juha Martikainen of Statistics Finland.
     
Women’s advancement in the employment statistics is a direct result of the recession that has hit particularly hard in the traditionally male-dominated fields such as the building, metal, and technology industries.
      Should the recession drag on, its effects may spill over also to the female-dominated fields such as the service industries.
      In that case men may again overtake women in the employment figures.
      According to the latest numbers from Statistics Finland, the army of unemployed Finns is already more than 200,000 strong.
      This is 52,000 individuals more than at the same time last year.
      Percentage-wise, this means that 8.8 per cent of Finland’s working-age population are without a job.
     
It is predicted that the unemployment figures will keep rising well into next year, reaching their peak during 2010. Depending on the compiler of the forecast, this peak is expected to reach 10 to 11.2 per cent.
      In addition to the altogether unemployed people, there are also around 100,000 temporarily dismissed individuals in the country.
      Some of them are totally without work, some have been forced to work shortened hours.
      Hence to get a more accurate picture of the country’s employment situation, one should look at the employment figures rather than those for unemployment.
     
According to Statistics Finland, the number of employed people is down by 95,000 compared with a year ago.
      The August employment rate was 68.7 per cent, which is 2.8%-points lower than the corresponding figure in August 2008.
      The employment rate fell particularly drastically among men, by nearly five percentage points, compared to the less than one percentage point drop for women.
      As a consequence, while the number of the unemployed increased in a year “only” by just over 50,000, the number of the employed fell significantly more, by 95,000.
      "The decline in the number of available jobs, which is reflected by the fall in the employment figures, speaks of how much the labour market has weakened. In this situation that is a more reliable and truer indicator than the headcount of the unemployed”, says chief economist Timo Lindholm from the Federation of Finnish Enterprises.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Summer saw unemployment taking steep rise in Helsinki (26.8.2009)
  Government to borrow billions to avert mass unemployment (26.1.2009)

Links:
  Statistics Finland press release, 22.9.2009

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