Labour force survey, seasonally-adjusted figures, February 2001

Adjusted for seasonal variations man-weeks worked increased by 21 000 from November 2000 to February 2001. Man-weeks worked is presently on about the same level as the last two years' annual average. There were only minor changes in the number of employed and unemployed persons.

Previous to the seasonal adjustment, we also make adjustments for holidays that fall in random months every year. This year part of the country had winter holiday in March. Because of this the figure for man-weeks worked in March 2001 was based on interviews only from three weeks, from 12 March to 1 April. The figure for February this year is thus a little higher.

The purpose of adjusting for seasonal variations is to give figures for changes for the last three months and to describe the development during the last year. Please use unadjusted figures from the LFS in order to get appropriate quarterly figures.

Tables:

• Table 1. Persons aged 16-74 years by labour force status, seasonally adjusted, three-months moving average. 1000