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Helsinki – In November, Finland became the country in the European Union (EU) with the highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, at 10.6%, surpassing Spain for the first time, which registered two tenths less, according to data published this Thursday by the EU statistics office, Eurostat.
This historic “sorpasso” occurred after Finland increased its unemployment rate by two tenths compared to the month of October, while Spain reduced it by one tenth, to 10.4%.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Economic Affairs of the Nordic country, the increase in unemployment is due in part to the structural reforms promoted by the Government to reduce debt and to companies’ pursuit of productivity growth.
“The increase in productivity has been sought by cutting costs, instead of expanding operations and investing,” the deputy secretary of state of the aforementioned ministry, Elina Pylkkänen, told the national television channel YLE.
The cost-cutting has resulted in a reduction of jobs in both the private and public sectors, which, together with the stagnation of the economy, has led Finland to have the highest unemployment rate in the last fifteen years.
In addition, in recent months there has been an increase in the number of people seeking to enter the labor market, including many migrants, while the number of job offers has decreased.
The Bank of Finland forecasts that the economy of the Nordic country will grow by 0.8% this year, three tenths less than the estimates of the Ministry of Finance.
Eurostat published in a statement that Finland’s unemployment rate in November was 10.1%, although it clarified in a note that, for this country, as well as for Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, it used trend data instead of seasonally adjusted data, as in the rest of the EU countries. (January 8)
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