Finland’s employment rate stood at 70.7 percent in December, down from 73.0 percent a year earlier, according to the latest Labour Force Survey figures published by Statistics Finland.
This equates to 74,000 fewer people in employment compared to one year previously.
"In December 2020, the number of employed persons was 2,496,000 (margin of error ±36,000)," the agency said in a press release. "There were 26,000 fewer employed men and 48,000 fewer employed women than in December 2019."
There were also 48,000 more unemployed people last month compared to the same period in 2019.
In the Thursday morning release, the data agency explained that comparisons are made to the corresponding month of the previous year because employment and unemployment rates vary quite considerably every month due to seasonal variations.
The trend in Finland’s employment rate, adjusted for seasonal and random variations, has remained almost unchanged since October. The trend figure was 71.8 percent in December.
Statistics Finland added that uncertainty related to trend figures is now higher than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The trend figure for the unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in December.