Downturn in the number of vacancies in the Helsinki region
In December 2022, the number of vacant jobs registered with the Employment and Economic Development Offices decreased in the Helsinki region by 18 per cent compared with the previous year. In 2022, the number of vacancies clearly exceeded the number before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of vacant jobs at the end of the year was 10 per cent higher than at the end of 2019.
At the end of December 2022, there were more than 17,000 open job vacancies in the Helsinki region, which makes up one quarter of all open job vacancies in the country.
Year-on-year, the number of open job vacancies decreased by 18 per cent in Helsinki in December, by 12 per cent in Espoo and Vantaa, and by 24 per cent at the national level.
The number of vacant jobs registered with the Employment and Economic Development Offices increased in the Helsinki region between 2015 and March 2020. The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic began to show on the labour market in March 2020, and the number of vacancies remained below the previous year’s level for one year. Starting in March 2021, the demand for labour force started to grow again, and the growth continued until November 2022.
*Many sectors still have problems with the availability of labour force. The social welfare and health care, early childhood education and ICT sectors are experiencing a shortage of labour force. Commercial service sectors face matching problems in finding suitable labour force. There are simultaneously a large number of vacancies and unemployed jobseekers.