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According to the data of the 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC 2011), most of the Estonian residents are employees. 3.8% of the persons aged 15 and over are self-employed.

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

“In 2025, average gross hourly wages were 13 euros for men and 11.4 euros for women, meaning that women’s wages were 12.2% lower. This means that the gender pay gap in Estonia was the narrowest ever,” said Krista Vaikmets, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia. She added that the gender pay gap has decreased by 10.7 percentage points in the last 15 years. Wage inequality is the greatest in financial and insurance activities Looking at individual economic activities, the indicators vary. “In 2025, the gender pay gap was the biggest in financial and insurance activities (23.6%), wholesale and

Eveli Voolens, team lead of social statistics 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. The rate of job vacancies was 1.6% in the third quarter of 2025 The total number of vacant and occupied posts in the third quarter was 588,494. The number of vacant posts was the highest in education (2,025) and in wholesale and retail trade (1,264). The number of

Tea Vassiljeva, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the decline in unemployment is a sign that the economy is improving. “However, there are no grounds for optimism yet, as there has been no rise in employment and the share of economically inactive people among the working-age population is substantial,” added Vassiljeva. In the second quarter, the number of employed persons was 691,600 – this is 5,700 fewer than a year earlier but 5,300 more than in the first quarter. The employment rate was 68.6%, which is slightly lower than last year and just 0.6 percentage points higher than

“In the third quarter of this year, the percentage change in wages and salaries remained at the same level as in the previous quarter. However, in the third quarter of 2024, wage growth was 8.1%, which means that the year-on-year growth in wages and salaries slowed down,” said Sigrid Saagpakk, analyst at Statistics Estonia. She added that, in the second quarter, employees usually receive more bonuses (such as holiday pay), which is why the average wages and salaries in the third quarter are typically lower than in the second quarter. In the third quarter, the average monthly gross wages and

The total number of vacant and occupied posts in the fourth quarter was a little under 584,000. Vacancies represented 1.5% of all job posts. The number of vacant posts was the highest in education (1,435) and wholesale and retail trade (including repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles) (1,431). Krista Vaikmets, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the number of job vacancies declined by nearly 500 in the fourth quarter year on year. However, the rate of job vacancies – i.e. the share of vacancies in the total number of posts – remained at a similar level as in the fourth quarter

Sigrid Saagpakk, analyst at Statistics Estonia, stated that the total number of vacant and occupied posts in the first quarter was a little over 594,000. “The number of vacant posts was the highest in education (1,274) and in public administration and defence (1,254). The number of occupied posts, however, was the greatest in manufacturing (97,736),” she said. The analyst noted that, in the first quarter of 2025, vacant posts accounted for 1.5% of the total number of posts. In the first quarter of 2024, vacant positions accounted for 1.6%. In the first quarter of this year, in addition to

“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