Unemployment climbs again as Finland's economic recovery fails to affect jobs market
There were a total of 298,000 unemployed people in Finland last month, an increase of more than 10 percent on the same period last year.
Unemployment in Finland continues to rise as the country's economic recovery struggles to make an impact on the job market. According to the latest Labour Force Survey, published by Statistics Finland each month, there has been a significant increase in the number of people unemployed. In September, Finland saw 39,000 more people out of work compared to the same period in the previous year.
The unemployment rate in September stood at 10.5 percent, up from 10.1 percent in August. This increase brought the total number of job seekers aged between 15 and 74 to nearly 300,000.
Statistics Finland's report highlighted that the situation is particularly dire for unemployed men. Last month, there were approximately 59,000 fewer men employed compared to September 2025, leading to an unemployment rate for men of 10.9 percent, which is 1.4 percentage points higher than a year ago. Additionally, KEHA Centre, a state agency specializing in employment support, reported a 9 percent increase in long-term unemployment at the end of September.
As of September, there were about 143,000 job seekers who had been continuously registered as unemployed for at least a year, compared to last year.
Despite Finland being in the early stages of economic recovery, economists predict that it could take up to a year before the positive effects of this recovery begin to show in the job market. Petri Malinen, Chief Economist of the Finnish Federation of Entrepreneurs, pointed out that ongoing geopolitical uncertainties are affecting the outlook for Finnish firms and causing them to postpone hiring.
Malinen further explained that both companies and consumers are exhibiting cautious optimism about the future of the Finnish economy, as the improvements are not yet visible in people's daily lives. Malinen concluded that as long as economic growth does not become tangible, consumers remain cautious, leading to a slow recovery in consumption.
He emphasized that with modest growth in demand for companies, there is no urgency for them to increase their workforce.
Written by urgent.news from Yle News Finland's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
