Finnish unemployment rate hits 16-year low at 5.9% for July

August 21, 2007

Finland's unemployment rate has continued falling steadily, as it has been doing for two years, and hit a 16-year low in July at 5.9%, it has been announced.

The announcement by the Finnish government statistics agency bettered predictions by the Finance Ministry, which had predicted a rate of 6.7% this year and 6.3% next year. The dramatic decrease is being fueled by strong economic growth in the country.

The figures come from a survey carried out for the government by Statistics Finland.

These latest figures mean that out of Finland's population of 5.3 million, 161,000 were jobless in July, compared with 179,000 at the same time last year.