Unemployment growth has slowed, but not yet stopped, summarises the recently published Akava Works Unemployment and Layoff Survey.
Akava Works estimates that while the greatest need for employers to reduce their workforce has already passed, the total number of unemployed is still rising, due to the low number of vacancies and the difficulty of finding work for the currently unemployed.
The Bank of Finland is along the same lines in its September interim forecast. According to the Bank of Finland, labour market developments have been weaker than forecast, the unemployment rate has risen faster than expected and the number of employed persons has fallen in the beginning of the year. The Bank expects the unemployment rate to start to fall slowly next year as economic growth picks up.
However, the number of unemployed people with higher education is higher than ever. On the positive side, the rate of increase in unemployment among highly educated has clearly slowed down, especially in recent months.
From the perspective of the majority of TEK members, the worst seems to be behind us. According to TEK's Labour Market Director Teemu Hankamäki, unemployment among TEK members has been fairly steady and on the decline over the past year.
"The peak was seen in January, when 3.0% of our members insured under the KOKO fund received some form of earnings-related compensation. In October, 2.4% received income-related benefits, so the situation has improved," Hankamäki says.
However, all is not yet well.
"Unfortunately, the trend in our legal services continues to be employment termination cases, but as unemployment among our members is still fairly moderate, new employment relationships are also formed. The situation is worse for architects, 8.5% of whom received income support in October and the situation has deteriorated since the summer. An improvement in employment among architects would require a recovery in the construction sector."