Main employment indicators
Number of employed persons, inactive persons, unemployed persons, economically active persons, employment rate, unemployment rate of population aged 15–74 by different sociodemographic dimensions Number of participants in taught and non-taught learning during the last four weeks by different sociodemographic characteristics Number of participants and non-participants in training courses by different sociodemographic characteristics Share of the underemployed | |
Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK) Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2 International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 08) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011) Classification of fields of education and training 2013 Classification of Ethnicities 2011 International Standard Codes for the Representation of the Names of Countries (ISO 3166) Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages (ISO 639-2) | |
Households | |
Actively seeking work – refers to a situation where a person took any of the following steps: - posted a job search advertisement or responded to a job advertisement; - followed job advertisements; - uploaded one’s CV to the web or updated it; - contacted an employer directly; - turned to relatives/acquaintances to find work; - contacted the Unemployment Insurance Fund; - contacted an employment agency; - went to an interview with an employer, took a text or exam; - made preparations to start a business or set up a farm. Discouraged person – a person who would like to work and would be immediately available for work if there was work, but who is not an active job seeker because he or she has lost hope of finding a job. Economically active population / labour force – persons who wish and are able to work (total of employed and unemployed persons). Economically passive / inactive population – persons who do not wish or are not able to work. Employed – a person who during the reference period: - worked at least one hour and was paid as a wage earner, entrepreneur or freelancer; - worked without direct payment in a family enterprise or on his/her own farm; - participated in work-related training; - was temporarily absent from work due to holidays, illness, pregnancy and maternity leave or work-related training; - was on child care leave and received or had the right to receive work-related income or (parental) benefits or was to remain on child care leave presumably for less than three months; - was temporarily absent from work for other reasons and the presumable leave period was less than three months; - was a seasonal worker outside the work season if he/she continued to regularly fulfil work-related tasks or responsibilities (excl. legal or administrative responsibilities); - produced agricultural products, of which the main share was meant for sale or exchange. Employment rate – the share of the employed in working-age population. Household – a group of people who live in a common dwelling (at the same address) and share joint financial and/or food resources. Persons included in the household are members of the household. A household may also consist of one member only. Inactive persons, or persons not included in the labour force – persons who belong to one of the following categories: - persons aged under 15 (in full years, as at the end of the survey week); - persons aged 89 and older (in full years, as at the end of the survey week); - persons aged 15–89 (in full years, as at the end of the survey week) who were neither employed nor unemployed, based on the definitions of employment and unemployment given in the previous points. Labour force participation rate / activity rate – the share of the labour force (total number of the employed and unemployed) in working-age population. Underemployed – a person who works part-time, but would like to work more and is available for additional work (within two weeks). Unemployed – a person who fulfils the following three conditions: - is without work (does not work anywhere during the survey week and is not temporarily absent from work); - is currently (within two weeks) available for work if there was work; - is actively seeking work. Unemployment rate – the share of the unemployed in the labour force. Working-age/labour-age population – the basis for examining the economic activity of the population is the population between the ages of 15 and 74 in the reference week. | |
Person | |
Permanent residents of Estonia aged over 15 (previously persons aged 15–74) FRAME A list of over 15-year-old permanent residents of Estonia compiled based on the population and housing census (2011) and the Population Register | |
Estonia as a whole – quarterly data Counties – main indicators annually | |
1989–… | |
Not applicable |
DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/256 of 16 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a multiannual rolling planning (Text with EEA relevance) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/257 of 16 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the number and the title of the variables for the labour force domain (Text with EEA relevance) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2240 of 16 December 2019 specifying the technical items of the data set, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the labour force domain in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance) Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (Text with EEA relevance) OTHER LEGAL ACTS Not available OTHER AGREEMENTS Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) International Labour Organisation (ILO) International Monetary Fund (IMF) |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. | |
The treatment of confidential data is regulated by the Procedure for Protection of Data Collected and Processed by Statistics Estonia (in Estonian). See more details on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Õigusaktid. |
Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month). | |
All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar. |
The news release “Employment and unemployment” once a quarter. The news release can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Uudiskiri (in Estonian). | |
Not published | |
Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / Employed persons / Annual statistics” in the following tables: TT0150, TT0200, TT02001, TT0201, TT0205, TT206, TT207, TT209, TT210, TT2109, TT2119, TT2158, TT217, TT220, TT222, TT223, TT224, TT225, TT226, TT227, TT228, TT229, TT230, TT231, TT232, TT234, TT235, TT236, TT2369, TT238, TT241, TT2419, TT243, TT244, TT245, TT246, under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / Employees / Annual statistics” in the following tables: TT262, TT263, under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / Unemployed persons / Annual statistics” in the following tables: TT3510, TT352, TT353, TT3539, TT43, TT433, TT434, TT435, TT436, TT44, TT440, TT443, TT70, TT71, under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / Inactive persons / Annual statistics” in the following tables: TT45, TT4514, TT4515, TT453, TT454, TT456, under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / General data of labour market / Annual statistics” in the following tables: TT0151, TT330, TT332, TT3321, TT4661, TT467, TT51, TT54, TT55, TT56, under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / Education of working-age population / Educational level and knowledge of languages” in the following tables: TT0100, TT0119, TT109, TT111, TT115, TT117, TT1209, TT123, TT130, TT131, TT132, TT133, TT134, TT136, under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / Education of working-age population / Participation in lifelong learning during last 4 weeks” in the following tables: TT160, TT161, TT170, TT171, TT174, TT175, TT176, TT177, under the subject area “Social life / Worklife quality / Labour market gaps” in the following tables: TKL01, TKL13, TKL17, TKL29, under the subject area “Social life / Social exclusion and poverty / Poverty and inequality” in the following tables: LES09, LES10, LES11, LES39 and under the subject area “Social life / Labour market / Immigrant population” in the following tables: IR01, IR03, IR05, IR07, IR10, IR20, IR209, IR22, IR23, IR30, IR40, IR43, IR45. | |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes. | |
Not used | |
EU labour force survey - methodology (EU-LFS) Estonian Labour Force Survey 1995-2012. Methodology Due to the requirements of the Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) regulation, as of 2021, the Estonian Labour Force Survey is based on a new methodology (more specifically Changes in the methodology of the Estonian Labour Force Survey). The main goal of the changes is to improve data quality. | |
Data on the quality of the population, sample and respondents are published in the Statistical Database. “Estonian Labour Force Survey. Methodology” http://www.stat.ee/methodology http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/lfs/publications/quality-reporting |
To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act. | |
Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions. |
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Ministry of Rural Affairs Ministry of Finance Ministry of Social Affairs Institute of International and Social Studies University of Tartu | |
Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section User surveys. | |
The data are complete and correspond to the data composition requirements prescribed by the European Commission regulation on labour force survey statistics. |
The accuracy of source data is monitored by assessing the methodological soundness of data sources and the adherence to the methodological recommendations. The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness. | |
For main indicators of the labour force survey, the standard errors and relative standard errors are published in the Statistical Database. | |
Statistics Estonia aims to reduce the amount of non-sampling errors through continuous methodological and survey process improvements, e.g. by adopting computer-assisted data collection helps to prevent coding and typing errors. Information on response rates by group is available in the Statistical Database. |
Data in Estonia are comparable by counties, regions and Tallinn. Data in Europe are comparable across countries. For example, data on unemployment and employment can be compared. The survey module “Reconciliation between work and family life” was conducted as a part of Estonian Labour Force Survey in 2005 and 2010. The Estonian Labour Force Survey is based on the definitions developed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and they enable to compare the collected data to the data of other countries. | |
Statistics Estonia conducted the first Labour Force Survey at the beginning of 1995 (ELFS 95). In 1997–1999, the survey was conducted in the 2nd quarter. Starting from the year 2000, the Labour Force Survey is a continuous survey providing quarterly and annual results. In 2021, two new tables were added where previously published indicators (starting from 2018) have been recalculated using the new methodology and weights: TT0150: Employed persons in main job by sex, age group and full/part-time job (quarterly), TT0151: Labour market headline indicators by sex and age group (quarterly). In the other tables, there is a break in the time series between 2020 and 2021. Starting from 2021, the published indicators have been compiled according to a new methodology. | |
There are three data sources for measurement of unemployment in Estonia: the Estonian Labour Force Survey (ELFS) of Statistics Estonia, Eurostat’s harmonized unemployment statistics and Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund’s registered unemployment data. The methodology of data collection and publication frequency are different for these data sources. Read more from “Estonian Labour Force Survey. Methodology”, chapter 6.1. at http://www.stat.ee/methodology. The auxiliary employment indicators for national accounts according to the European System of Accounts (ESA) definitions are also calculated on the basis of ELFS. When using the data of ELFS and national accounts, differences arising from definitions and concepts should be taken into consideration. | |
The Estonian Labour Force Survey (LSF) 95 and LSF 97 survey week data are about persons who on 1 January of the survey year were 15–74 years old and data in the retrospective part have been collected from the same persons who in previous years were in other age groups. Hence, retrospective data on 1989–1996 were about those aged 15–69, to ensure comparability of data and presentation of population data by five-year age groups. From 1998 to the second quarter of 2000, also people aged 75 were interviewed in the labour force survey. Therefore, retrospective data on 1997–1999 cover 15–74 year-old people. All people over 74 years of age are regarded as inactive since 1997; for earlier years - people over 69. The expansion of the labour force survey data is based on the estimated population number as at 1 January of the survey year. The expansion factors are calculated by county, sex and 5-year age groups. Data published in the database on 1990–1999 have been amended using the adjusted population number in the years between the censuses of 1989 and 2000. Data on 2000–2013 have been corrected using the number of population recalculated on the basis of the 2011 census and registry data (see methodology for recalculating the population number at http://www.stat.ee/75541 (in Estonian) and methodology for recalculating the labour-force survey data at http://www.stat.ee/76254 (in Estonian)). Due to rounding, the sums received by adding numbers in tables are not always equal with the total. The difference can be up to some last decimal places. |
The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia. | |
Not applicable |
SURVEY DATA Not used ADMINISTRATIVE DATA Not used DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES Data from statistical activity 40013 “Labour Force Survey” are used | |
Not applicable | |
Not applicable | |
Arithmetic and qualitative controls are used in the validation process, including comparison with other data. Before data dissemination, the internal coherence of the is checked. | |
For non-response correction, individuals are divided into seven response homogeneity groups by place of residence (county and urban/rural) according to the non-response rate in the region. The weight of non-response of the individual is inversely proportional to the overall response rate in this group. Before expanding data to the population the weights will be calibrated by sex and age group (5-year groups), ethnic nationality (as of 2005) (Estonians, non-Estonians), educational level (as of 2021) (three levels), county of the place of residence of household, and degree of urbanisation (urban or rural). The basis of the calibration is the distribution of the population of Estonia by sex, age group and county on 1 January according to demographic data. After computing calibrated weights, the expansion factor is calculated for every respondent, which is the ratio of the total population to the number of interviewees per quarter. The final weight of the individual is calculated by multiplying the weight found earlier with the expansion factor. In addition, as of 2021, the data of the Labour Force Survey are weighted excluding persons living in institutions and in conscript service. | |
Seasonal adjustments of data for Estonia are made by Eurostat. |