Finland’s unemployment rate rose to 10.9% in February 2026, up from 9.4% in the same month a year earlier, reaching its highest level since May 2020. The number of unemployed people increased by 49,000 year-on-year to 312,000, comprising 180,000 men and 133,000 women. The unemployment rate for men climbed to 11.9%, 1.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier, while the rate for women rose to 9.8%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Youth unemployment also worsened, with the share of unemployed people aged 15–24 in the labor force rising to 24.6%, up 0.7 percentage points from a year before.
At the same time, the number of employed people grew by 24,000 to 2.553 million, and the labor force participation rate increased to 68.6%, compared with 67% a year earlier. The employment rate for people aged 20–64 also improved, rising to 75.3% from 74.5% in the corresponding period last year.
