ABSTRACT

Unemployment is usually examined in relative terms on the basis of the rate of unemployment and in absolute terms by setting out from the number of unemployed persons. According to M. Pyy, the duration of unemployment is also important from the point of view of welfare and the risk of social exclusion, more so, indeed than the fact of becoming unemployed in the first place. Long-term unemployment can be regarded as a major problem in a number of western countries, both in terms of the national economy and as a factor increasing the risk of social exclusion, and the long-term unemployed constitute almost a half of all unemployed persons in many European Union countries. The chapter discusses regional changes in the duration of unemployment on the basis of Statistics Finland grid square data for Finland in the recession years of 1993 and 1994, after which unemployment finally began to abate somewhat.