JHL (24.01.2017 - Heikki Jokinen) Some 11,000 new members joined the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL in the year 2016. With its 220 000 members JHL is the second largest union in Finland after the Service Union United PAM.
A clear majority of the new members were women (71.2 per cent) bringing the overall number of female members making up the union to 69 per cent.
The average age of those who joined last year was 38 years. The average age of union member as a whole remains the same as before, 52 years.
The most common professions of those joined in 2016 were practical nurses (512 new members), ward domestics (480) and personal assistants (342).
The most common profession among membership as a whole is ward domestic. There are more than 7,500 in the union. The next most popular profession is private childminder, 6,800 members. The third largest group are practical nurses, 6,100 persons.
The most common typical professions for male members of the union are property maintenance (1,500 members), train conductor (1,000) and electrician (900).
However, the total number of members fell a bit as 23,000 people left the union in 2016.
- Half of those who left the union had retired or will soon retire or were students, says Pertti Paajanen, the Project Head at the union Organisational Affairs and Membership Services Unit.
Also the number of members in working life dropped slightly, Paajanen adds in his interview in the union magazine Motiivi.
JHL has some 9,500 student members. Last year 3,000 new students joined the union. Half of the student members are studying to become practical nurses.
All the figures above include the four organisational members, which are separate unions within JHL.