1883_not-searchable
/en/arbeid-og-lonn/statistikker/aku/arkiv
1883
Higher share of women working full time
statistikk
2008-04-30T10:00:00.000Z
Labour market and earnings;Labour market and earnings;Immigration and immigrants
en
aku, Labour force survey, LFS, labour market, employees, unemployed, economically active, labour force, labour force status, employees by industry, underemployment, part-time work, hours of work, temporary staffUnemployment , Employment , Labour market and earnings, Labour market and earnings, Immigration and immigrants
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Labour force survey, Q1 2008

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Higher share of women working full time

The share of women working full time was 57 per cent in the first quarter of 2008, up one percentage point from the corresponding quarter in 2007. The share of full-time employment was 87 per cent for men, unchanged from the first quarter of 2007.

Seasonally adjusted figures: Continued growth in employment

Adjusted for seasonal variations, employment continued to rise from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, while unemployment was unchanged.

Adjustments for seasonal variations allow for the analysis of current developments in the labour market and serve as an alternative to comparisons with the corresponding quarter in the previous year. Seasonally adjusted figures are presented in a separate article .

The labour force (the sum of employment and unemployment) increased by 99 000 people from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. In the same period, the working-age population (aged 15-74) rose by 59 000. The labour force participation rate (the labour force as a percentage of the working-age population) was 73.6 per cent compared to 71.9 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year. All age groups had a higher labour force participation rate. The labour force participation rate rose by 5.6 percentage points for people aged 15-24. The number of people in education fell, possibly as a result of increased employment. In addition, more students had part-time jobs in the first quarter of 2008 than in the same quarter last year. The increase in the labour force participation rate for people 55-66 years indicates that more people stay in employment for longer.

The labour force participation rate for women rose by 1.9 percentage points, which is in line with a longer trend. For men, the rise in the labour force participation rate of 1.3 percentage points is a break with the decline that has been observed over the last years. The increase in the working-age population was largest among men, and a large part of the increase was a result of a higher labour force participation rate among immigrants.

Growth in several industries

From the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, employment rose by 100 000 people. Financial intermediation, health and social work and education had the strongest growth in employment. About half the increase in total employment took place in these industries.

More full-time employment

Full-time employment was up by 80 000, and women accounted for half of the increase. The share of women with full-time employment was 57 per cent, compared with 87 per cent for men. Average settled working hours for men were 37.0 hours per week, compared with 30.6 hours for women. Easter was in the first quarter of 2008, while it was in the second quarter of 2007. This affects the numbers of people temporarily absent from work, especially on holiday, and there was a large increase from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008.

Workforce, employed and man-weeks worked. Seasonally adjusted figures, three month moving average in 1 000

Stable share of employed people on temporary contracts

The number of people on temporary employment contracts rose by 12 000 from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. In total, 205 000 were on temporary contracts in the first quarter of 2008, which accounts for 8.9 per cent of total employment, compared with 8.8 per cent in the same quarter last year. Education and health and social work, which had the largest shares of employees on temporary contracts, employed about half of all people on temporary contracts.

Stable number of unemployed

According to the LFS, the number of unemployed fell by 1 000 from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. This is inside the error margin of the LFS. The unemployment rate stood at 2.5 per cent. The number of registered unemployed with the Labour and Welfare Organisation showed a decline of 10 000 over the same period. The discrepancy between the two sources mainly comes from an increase in the number of unemployed in the LFS not found in the NAV register. This may for example be young people in education.

The share of unemployed who have looked for work for a short period of time (1-4 weeks) rose from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. This may indicate an increase in the inflow to unemployment.

Unemployed (LFS), registered unemployed and registered employed + public sector job creation programmes. Seasonally adjusted figures, three month moving average in 1 000

The number of underemployed down

Underemployment is defined as employees with part-time as settled working hours who have tried to find more work. The number of underemployed was 57 000 in the first quarter of 2008, down 13 000 from the first quarter of 2007. In the first quarter of 2008, the underemployed represented about 8 per cent of all part-time employees.

When accounting for the fact that many unemployed and most underemployed are looking for less than full-time work, these two groups together wanted work equivalent to a total of 69 000 full-time positions in the first quarter of 2008, a decrease of 8 000 from the first quarter of 2007. Among the unemployed, more people wanted part-time work. This may be people in education seeking part-time employment.

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