The number of unemployed people has increased by five percent in a week, the Unemployment Insurance Fund said, and in all countries except Hiiu County. Last week, the fund registered 2,377 people as unemployed. 

The fund said in a statement: "Compared to the same period last year, registration as unemployed is significantly higher, but at the same time the number of new unemployed added last week is almost 36 percent lower than in the first week of April, when more than 3709 unemployed were registered."

Since the beginning of the emergency situation in mid-March, 11,198 people have registered as unemployed and registered unemployment has increased by 22 percent. In total 44,821 people are now registered as unemployed. 

The majority of this increase has come from the customer service, construction, accommodation and event managing sectors.

The number of collective redundancies was significantly lower last week than in previous weeks. Last week, collective redundancy notices were issued by six companies down from 22 a week earlier. This should impact 79 workers compared to 540 the previous week.

Last Monday applications opened for companies to claim wage compensation from the government as part of a €2 billion package of measures aimed at mitigating the impact of the coronavirus on the economy.

In the first week of applications, 4,301 companies submitted applications which for 25,624 people. 

The first payments were made by the unemployment fund on April 8 and 22,876 employees of 3,907 institutions received money. 

--

Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!