Unemployment rate growth slowed last week
The number of registered unemployed grew at a slower rate last week than in previous weeks since the emergency situation was declared in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Collective redundancies were also reportedly down.
As of Sunday, April 26, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (Töötukassa) had registered 47,889 people as unemployed, a registered rate of 7.4 percent of the workforce.
Last week, 1,766 people were registered as unemployed, down from 2,501 newly registered unemployed the previous week. This makes the rate last week lower than for any week since the emergency situation was declared on March 12, and the first time it had fallen below 2,000.
Since the declaration of the state of emergency, registered unemployment has increased in all counties, by a total of 11,178 people.
Thirty percent of the newly registered unemployed last week were had been laid off from their last job (rather than registered under other circumstances), a share at the same level as last week.
At the end of last week, the registered unemployment rate was the highest in Ida-Viru County at 12.9 percent, and lowest on Hiiumaa (4.4 percent).
The number of unemployed increased by 3 percent during the past week; the recorded monthly increase has been 20 percent.
Collective redundancies also down
Last week, a collective redundancy notice was issued by three organizations (compared with five a week earlier), which, according to initial information, is expected to lead to 84 layoffs (compared with 153 in the previous week).
Last week, 529 institutions submitted an application for wage compensation under a government scheme which would support up to 70 percent of salaries for two months. This compensation covered a total of 1,468 employees.
A total of 6,158 institutions have applied over the past three weeks, claiming compensation for 32,209 people.
The total cost of of these benefits to date has come to €26,047,650.
Remuneration benefits are paid every working day. A list of companies whose applications have been approved can reportedly be found on the Unemployment Insurance Fund page here.
Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte