Number of unemployed persons fell by over 5,000 on-year in second quarter
Estonia's unemployment fell during the second quarter of 2022 on-year, data from Statistics Estonia shows. However, there was a slight increase in comparison to the first quarter of 2022.
In the second quarter, the labor force participation rate was 73.1 percent, the employment rate was 68.8 percent, and the unemployment rate was 5.8 percent.
There were 41,700 unemployed persons in the second quarter, which is 5,600 less than at the same time last year. However, unemployment rose compared to the first quarter of this year and an extra 2,100 people were out of work.
Of the unemployed, 23,700 of were men and 18,000 were women.
"The number of unemployed persons increased a little in the second quarter but, looking at recent years, it has been relatively low and mostly in decline overall," said Katriin Põlluäär, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia.
In the second quarter, there were 9,000 persons who had been unemployed for more than a year – these are the long-term unemployed.
"It has been some time since this indicator was so low. The last time that the number of the long-term unemployed was this small was at the beginning of the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020," noted Põlluäär.
There were 673,500 employed persons in the second quarter, which is 31,600 more than in the second quarter last year.
Of the employed, 337,100 were men and 336,400 were women. A quarter of employed persons have a job in the public sector (24 percent), while the majority (76 percent) work in the private sector.
The vast majority –84.8 percent – of employed persons worked full-time, with the rest working part-time. The number of underemployed persons, i.e. persons who work part-time but would like to work more and are available for additional work within two weeks, was 6,800 in the second quarter.
In the second quarter of 2022, there were 263,200 inactive persons. This number included 116,400 men and 146,800 women. The main reasons for inactivity were retirement, studies and illness or disability.
"The number of inactive persons has decreased compared with the previous quarter and the same quarter of last year. There were 157,100 Estonians and 106,100 non-Estonians among inactive persons," added Põlluäär.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Helen Wright
