It's actually an alarming sign of the future, he said.
The situation has deteriorated significantly from the previous year. The number of job openings has decreased by 37 per cent, while the number of job seekers has increased by 4.3 per cent. Moreover, the number of new job openings fell 32 per cent year-on-year to 64,738 and the number of filled jobs by almost 24 per cent to 9,800 in August 2023.
-> The economy has regressed toward a weaker position. That's slowly starting to have an impact on the labour market, said Heikki Räisänen, a research director at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Beschäftigung.
However, he said, not all openings are advertised publicly as some employers try to fill their vacancies through other channels.
The labor market is taking a turn for the worse even though employment remains relatively high, said Henna Busk, a senior economist at Pellervo Economic Research.
''T get one because none are available,'' he said.
Should decision makers be aware of the consequences of their decisions, he said.
Busk said during a downturn the government would ideally increase the availability of employment services.
'It is important to preserve the skills of the unemployed, and participating in the services can also prevent social exclusion,' she said. 'It'd be preferable if unemployment security cuts were implemented, for example, next autumn, when the economic situation will likely be better. The economy is predicted to be short but of course no one knows what kinds of shocks the future brings.