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“In the third quarter, overall labour market indicators improved compared with both the third quarter of last year and the second quarter of this year,” stated Tea Vassiljeva, analyst at Statistics Estonia. She added that there were a total of 54,200 unemployed persons in the third quarter, which is 5,000 fewer than in the second quarter and 2,100 fewer than in the third quarter of last year. The unemployment rate (7.1%), i.e. the share of the unemployed in the labour force, was 0.3 percentage points lower in the third quarter than in the same quarter last year (7.4%) and 0.7 percentage points

Tea Vassiljeva, analyst at Statistics Estonia, explained that the unemployment rate, i.e. the share of the unemployed in the labour force, was 7.5% last year, which is just 0.1 percentage points lower than in 2024. In 2025, the average number of the unemployed was 56,200 – this is down by 900 from the year before. Unemployment grew the most among young men “Unemployment decreased among women but increased among men. Women’s unemployment rate, which was 7.5% in 2024, dropped to 6.6% in 2025. As for men, their unemployment rate grew by 0.7 percentage points compared with 2024 and reached 8.3% as

Sigrid Saagpakk, analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted that Statistics Estonia uses the data of the employment register of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board to estimate the number of occupied posts and labour turnover. Data on job vacancies, however, are collected by Statistics Estonia using a questionnaire. Vacant posts accounted for 1.7% of the total number of posts The total number of vacant and occupied posts in the second quarter was 595,760. The number of vacant posts was the highest in education (1,782) and in wholesale and retail trade (incl. repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles)

Krista Vaikmets, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that wage growth slowed down in 2025. “Last year, wages and salaries did not grow as fast as in previous years, but monthly gross wages still increased in all counties. The biggest increase was registered in Valga, Põlva and Rapla counties where gross wages were up by more than 6.5% last year,” she said. Vaikmets added that, in 2025, the average monthly gross wages and salaries were the highest in Harju county (2,336 euros), rising by 5.3% year on year, and in Tartu county (2,112 euros), growing by 5.9% year on year. “Looking at

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2023, the gross hourly earnings of female employees were 13.1% smaller than the earnings of male employees. The gender pay gap decreased by 4.6 percentage points year on year.

Swen Peterson, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that herbicides are still the most sold type of plant protection products. “In 2024, sales of herbicides totalled 597 tonnes, which is over 80 tonnes more than in 2023. Sales of insecticides increased by a fourth, while sales of fungicides decreased by a tenth compared with 2023,” explained Peterson. Herbicides accounted for 76%, fungicides for 13%, growth regulators for 9% and insecticides for 1.6% of the total amount of pesticides sold. In recent years, there has been a rise in the sold quantities of herbicides and insecticides, but

“Compared with the first quarter, labour market indicators have improved, but remain below the figures for the second quarter of 2024,” said Tea Vassiljeva, analyst at Statistics Estonia. The analyst noted that while the unemployment rate in the second quarter (7.8%) was slightly higher than in last year’s second quarter (7.6%), it was 0.8 percentage points lower than in the first quarter of 2025. “The unemployment rate for men (8.4%) was higher than that for women (7.2%). There were a total of 59,200 unemployed persons in the second quarter, which is 5,000 fewer than in the previous quarter

Robert Müürsepp, the National Accounts Service Manager at Statistics Estonia, said that 2025 was a better year for the Estonian economy than the previous two years. “The GDP showed growth in the last three quarters, and the annual GDP growth was 0.6%,” he added. Manufacturing was the biggest contributor to economic growth in Q4 Similarly to the third quarter, the contribution of most economic activities to the GDP remained modest. Manufacturing was the biggest positive contributor, as its value added increased by 13.3%. Information and communication also had a significant impact – its value