Finland – The real unemployment rate is 12 percent says the Pellervo Economic Research Institute

Finland’s real unemployment rate would surpass 12 percent if the so-called “hidden unemployed” were to join the job market, according to a think tank researcher. The term hidden unemployed refers to unemployed persons who are not registered as actively looking for work.

The rapid increase in the number of unemployed persons who’ve abandoned the search for work is a worrying trend, according to research director Markus Lahtinen of the Pellervo Economic Research Institute, PTT.

”It’s a sign of the weakness of the Finnish labour market; that people see the search for work as futile so they withdraw entirely from the job market. So they stay at home to look after the kids or study,” Lahtinen said.

“It’s a serious problem because otherwise those people wouldn’t be “hidden unemployed” but unemployed jobseekers and the unemployment rate would be around 12 percent. That’s in a totally different class from the 7.4 percent reported by Statistics Finland at the end of August,” he added.

According to official data, there were 149,000 inactive jobless persons at the end of August – 32,000 more than the same time in 2013.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Think tank pegs real unemployment rate at 12 percent | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi.