The number of people with jobs in Finland grew by 5.4 percent or 127,000 between 2004 and 2007. At the same time, the number of jobless people fell by 20 percent or by 45,000. As a result the unemployment rate shrank from 8.8 percent to 6.9 percent.
Employment rates have grown fastest in southern and western Finland, where the numbers of employed persons increased by six percent, while unemployed fell by 22 percent. In eastern Finland, and the provinces of Oulu and Lapland, three percent more people found jobs, while 15 percent dropped out of the workforce.
Employment levels increased slightly in the east and north of the country, although they remained lower than in other areas.
Payroll Expenses Grow in 2008
Payroll expenses between the February and April 2008 were nine percent higher than for the same period last year. The growth in these costs was faster than in the 2007, when salary payments increased by just under six percent over the corresponding period in 2006.
Payroll expenses include workers' gross salaries, and influence increases in income levels.
Employers forked out more money to pay workers in all major sectors of the economy, with salaries rising fastest in the construction sector. Between February and April, payments were 15.2 percent larger than during the same period last year.
Salary costs also grew considerably in the private health care and social services sectors - by up to 12.6 percent. In other service sectors wage bills expanded by 11.7 percent, while in the financial sector, the increase was 11.5 percent.
Businesses providing private training services had to contend with only moderately higher salary payments of just five percent compared to the same period last year.