Estonia's unemployment falls to 6.6% in Q2
Statistics Estonia reports that the unemployment rate dropped to 6.6% in the second quarter, while employment remains slightly below last year's level. Youth unemployment is still high at 22.4%.
Estonia's unemployment rate stood at 6.6% in the second quarter of this year, while the employment rate was 68.6% and the labor force participation rate 73.4%, according to Statistics Estonia. Lead analyst Tea Vassiljeva said the drop in unemployment points to an improving economic situation. At the same time, she cautioned that there are no signs of employment growth yet, and the sizable share of working-age people outside the labor force does not justify greater optimism.
The number of employed people in the second quarter was 691,600, which is 5,700 fewer than a year earlier but 5,300 more than in the first quarter. The employment rate of 68.6% was slightly lower than in the same period last year and just 0.6 percentage points above the first-quarter figure. Vassiljeva noted that the usual seasonal increase in employment at the start of summer was relatively modest this year.
Compared with the second quarter of 2024, employment declined in agriculture, forestry and fishing as well as in services, while remaining stable in industry and construction. When looking specifically at the number of employees, annual growth was recorded in industry, construction and services. In Tallinn, the number of employed people fell by 5,800 year on year — more than the decline for the entire country. The only regions where employment rose both year on year and quarter on quarter were Harju County outside Tallinn and Southern Estonia.
The survey counted 49,000 unemployed people in the second quarter, 10,200 fewer than a year earlier. At 6.6%, the unemployment rate was the lowest for a second quarter since 2023. Compared with the first quarter of this year, unemployment fell by 3,200 people, and the rate was 0.5 percentage points lower. Vassiljeva said the survey data on unemployment follows a downward trend similar to that seen in registered unemployment data from the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Youth unemployment remained elevated, with the rate for people aged 15–24 at 22.4% in the second quarter. That is down from 25.4% a year earlier and slightly below the 22.8% recorded in the first quarter. The good news this year, according to Vassiljeva, is that young people not only sought work but also found jobs. The number of employed young people rose by 3,300 year on year, and the youth employment rate reached 33.8%, up 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier.
