Number of unemployed persons in Estonia fell for a second year in a row in 2022

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Andrei Chertkov

According to data published by Statistics Estonia, in 2022, the employment rate was 69.2 per cent, and unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent. In total, there were 677,400 employed persons, which is the highest number in recent years.

The number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate both fell last year, for the second year running. In 2022, there were 40,200 unemployed persons, which is 2,900 fewer than the year before. The unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent, down from 6.2 per cent in 2021.

“The biggest decrease in the unemployment rate in 2022 was recorded in Tartumaa and Pärnumaa. Unemployment also declined in Ida-Virumaa, but there was a rise in the unemployment rate in Harjumaa excluding Tallinn city, and in Lääne-Virumaa. In Tallinn, both the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate remained at the same level as the year before,” said Tea Vassiljeva, an analyst at Statistics Estonia.

In 2022, the number of employed persons grew substantially. “Their number was still in decline in 2021, but started to increase in 2022. The number of women among employed persons increased more than the number of men,” noted Vassiljeva.

In 2021, there were 650,500 employed persons aged 15–74 in Estonia, including 329,500 men and 321,000 women. In 2022, the number of employed persons rose by 26,900 to 677,400, of which 341,700 were men and 335,700 women. This is the biggest number in recent years. A similar growth year on year was recorded in the employment rate, which increased by 2.5 percentage points from 66.7 per cent in 2021 to 69.2 per cent in 2022.

“In 2022, there were 260,800 inactive persons, which is 21,500 fewer than the year before. A considerable share of them have probably found employment since 2021, which is why the labour force participation rate has increased by 2.2 percentage points compared with 2021,” added Vassiljeva.

In 2022, the number of persons working both full-time and part-time increased. The number of persons working part-time grew by 14,500 compared with 2021, to 102,000. The number of persons working full-time increased by 12,400 year on year to 575,200 in 2022.

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