In the first quarter of 2022, the Estonian labour force participation rate was 73.1%, the employment rate was 69%, and the unemployment rate was 5.5%, according to Statistics Estonia.
The agency wrote in a press release on Monday, May 16, that Katriin Põlluäär, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that there were 39,600 unemployed persons in the first quarter. «That is 9,200 less than at the same time last year, however, compared to the last quarter of 2021, the number of the unemployed has risen by 3,300 persons,» added Põlluäär.
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There were 21,600 unemployed men and 18,000 unemployed women. More than half of them (55.6%) had been unemployed for less than six months. «The number of people who had been out of work for more than a year was 11,100, a few thousand less than a year ago,» Põlluäär explained.
In the first quarter of 2022, there were 675,300 employed persons, which is 24,800 more than last year. Of the employed, 341,800 were men and 333,500 were women. «The number of the employed has increased for both men and women, in the public and private sectors, and it is the highest recorded in recent years,» added the leading analyst, as quoted by ERR.