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The Unemployment rate of Estonia (2021 - 2029, %)

  • The Unemployment rate of Estonia attained a value of 7.60 % in 2024

  • The indicator recorded a historical change (bps difference) of 140 bps between 2021 to 2024, and is expected to decline by...

  • GlobalData projects the figure to change by 71 bps between 2025 and 2029, reaching...

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The Unemployment rate of Estonia (2021 - 2029, %)

Published: Apr 2025
Source: GlobalData

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Unemployment  

Unemployment is a term used to describe people who are actively looking for work but are unable to find one. The unemployment rate is derived by dividing the total number of unemployed persons by the total number of people in a certain region or workforce. It is one of the most important markers of a country's economic health.  

Global Unemployment  

As per the International Labour Organization, the average regional unemployment rate at the end of 2021 has been estimated at 9.6%, which represents an improvement from the 10.6% it reached in 2020, but a setback compared to the 8% that was recorded for 2019, which in this case is used as a reference to calculate the impact of two years of the pandemic.  

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), April 2022 published its February 2022 unemployment figures: the unemployment rate in the OECD areas dropped below the pre-pandemic rate. This is the lowest level since the start of this data series in 2001. The number of unemployed workers in the OECD area also continued to fall, reaching 34.9 million, 0.7 million below its pre-pandemic level. 

Unemployment Rate of Estonia

The unemployment rate in Estonia in 2021 stood at 6.5%. Between 2018-2021, the unemployment rate in Estonia was highest in 2020 at 6.8% and lowest in 2019 at 4.5%. The unemployment rate decreased by 4.3% on a year-on-year basis in 2021 and increased by 20.6% between 2018-2021. 

According to GlobalData, the decline in unemployment has been achieved because of the consistent growth and effective labor market reforms that the country has implemented in the past few years. In 2020, Estonia’s unemployment rate increased to 6.8%, mainly due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lack of economic activity.

Government measures to eradicate unemployment

In March 2021, the Estonian government approved an amendment to the 2021–23 Employment Programme, which now supports companies that have been severely affected by the COVID-19 restrictions. The wage compensation approved by the government was intended to pay wages to those employees whose workloads or wages have decreased significantly amid the COVID-19 crisis. The estimated cost of the support measure for March 2021 stood at EUR38 million ($46.2 million), which was covered by the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Factors that Cause Unemployment  

Recession, government policies, geographical labor mobility, technological advancements, global economy, expanding population, and education, training, and skill development of workers are some of the primary elements that influence unemployment in a country.  

 

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