Estonia’s unemployment rate hit its highest level for 12 years in Q1 2025

Estonia‘s unemployment rate hit 8.6% in the first quarter of 2025, its highest rate for 12 years, with 64,200 people unemployed.

The number of unemployed was 5,300 higher than in the corresponding period of 2024, the data, from Statistics Estonia, showed.

“The unemployment rate rose to 8.6%, which is 0.8 percentage points more than a year earlier and 1.2 percentage points more than in the fourth quarter of last year,” commented Tea Vassiljeva, analyst at Statistics Estonia.

Estonia’s Ida-Viru county, which boasts the country’s highest unemployment rate, at 12.7%, was also the only region in which the unemployment rate decreased in the quarter, the data showed.

Long-term unemployed

The biggest increase occurred among the long-term unemployed, namely those that have been out of work for a year or more, with this cohort growing by 3,200 to 16,000. Short-term unemployment (those unemployed for less than six months) also rose, reaching 38,100, a year-on-year increase of 1,700.

Some 681,600 people were employed in Estonia as of the first quarter of 2025, which was a drop of 11,700 compared to the first quarter of 2024.

On a regional basis, the number decreased the most in Southern Estonia (Jõgeva, Põlva, Tartu, Valga, Viljandi and Võru counties) and in Western Estonia (Hiiu, Lääne, Pärnu and Saare counties), as well as in Tallinn, Statistics Estonia noted.

National employment rate

The national employment rate fell to 67.4%, down one percentage point from a year earlier. On a regional basis, the employment rate increased in Harju county, excluding Tallinn, and in Central Estonia (Järva, Lääne-Viru and Rapla counties), with the biggest increase (of 3.3%) reported in Ida-Viru.

“In the first quarter, the number of economically inactive persons – i.e. the population outside the labour force – grew by 4,300 year on year,” Vassiljeva added. “The greatest increase in the inactive population was registered in Tallinn and in Southern Estonia. The number of inactive persons decreased in Ida-Viru county.” Read more here.