Registered unemployment in Estonia increased to 8.3% in December 2020 with the largest rate of unemployment present in Ida-Viru County. The most common for unemployed persons registering with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (Tootukassa) last year was layoffs.
In 2020, the fund registered a total of 110,942 unemployed people, up by 30.6% YoY.
There were 87,877 first-time registered unemployed people with 21,348 of them losing their previous job as a result of redundancies. Of the people laid off, 11,900 were in Tallinn and Harju County, 2,600 were laid off in Ida-Viru County, 1,800 lost their job in Tartu County and 1,400 people were maid redundant during the coronavirus pandemic in Parnu County.
Employment contracts were terminated in 12,200 cases where the parties involved reached an agreement, 12,400 fixed-term contracts were terminated last year and another 14,200 people registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund after leaving their job at their own initiative.
Young people made up 15.5% of unemployed persons last year, while those aged 55 – 19.5%. Long-term unemployed people made up 32.1% of all registered unemployed in 2020.
There were 53,874 people registered at the end of last year, 21.9% of those were people with reduced working capacity. A third of unemployed people were registered for less than three months, 23% were registered for 3-5 months and 16% were in the registry for 6-8 months.
In December 2020, the share of unemployment was greatest in Ida-Viru County (13.2%), followed by Valga County (10.1%), Parnu County (9.9%) and Polva County (9%). (ERR/Business World Magazine)
