The 'Happiest Country in the World' Became the Gold Medalist in Unemployment 0 11

Not long ago, Finland was recognized as the happiest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, according to the World Happiness Report. A high standard of living, trust in the government, personal freedom, and social security secure the country’s top position, while the top 10 traditionally includes countries from Northern Europe.

At the same time, Finland still leads the EU in terms of unemployment rates. This is evident from data provided by the EU statistical office Eurostat.

Taking seasonal fluctuations into account, the unemployment rate in Finland in December was 10.3 percent. Spain remains in second place with a 10 percent unemployment rate.

Overall, the situation regarding unemployment in the EU looks more optimistic: the average rate in the member states was 5.9 percent at the end of last year.

The lowest rate was recorded in the Czech Republic, where it stood at 3.1 percent.

• "If we look for positive aspects, the number of employed people has remained close to last year's level. This is also evident in the data for the last quarter," said senior actuary of the Statistics Center Tatu Leskinen in a press release.

The labor force study also indicates that the number of people starting to look for work has increased. In December, 1.35 million people aged 15 to 74 were out of the labor force. This is 33,000 fewer than a year earlier.

At the same time, the number of long-term unemployed has also increased, according to a review by the Employment, Development, and Management Center KEHA, based on data from the municipal employment services client registry.

In December, around 138,000 people had been unemployed for at least a year – 28,000 more than a year earlier. More than 68,400 people had been unemployed for over two years, which is approximately 14,000 more.

Unemployment has risen across all age groups. There were 43,000 unemployed job seekers under 25, which is 6,000 more. There were 88,300 unemployed individuals over 55, which is 6,400 more than before.