In Estonia, young people have suffered the most due to the economic crisis

The increase in unemployment in Estonia has been first of all caused by the sudden growth in unemployment among the youth aged 15–24 which began in the 2nd quarter of 2008 and deepened at the beginning of 2009. As in the 1st quarter of 2008, the unemployment rate of young people of the EU Member States was on average twice as high as in Estonia, the unemployment of the youth in Estonia started to increase consistently from the 3rd quarter of 2008 and surged to a 24.5% level by the 1st quarter of 2009.

There are several other substantial reasons for the sudden growth in the youth unemployment besides the economic fall. More and more youngsters who were born during the period of “the singing revolution” have entered the labour market during the past years.

The profile of labour force of young people is numerically dominated by males who are mostly oriented to acquiring vocational education and therefore study for a shorter period than the females acquiring higher education. In the 1st quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate (30.1%) of young men was almost twice as high as that of the young women (17.7%). Another issue is the educational level of the 15–24-year-old men — 36% of them have only basic education. They managed to find a job easily in the construction sector during the real estate boom, but now finding a job has become almost impossible for them due to their low level of education and lack of professional skills. Many young people are trying to find their first job — the young people who have just graduated, school quitters and youngsters who have never worked before account for 30% of the 15–24-year-old unemployed persons.

Unemployment is still of rather short-term nature at the moment — three-fourths of all unemployed have been searching for employment for less than a year. However, unemployment may become a long-term phenomenon in the constant lack of available positions.

The estimates are based on the data of the Labour Force Survey. Statistics Estonia conducts the Labour Force Survey since 1995 and 5,000 persons participate in it every quarter. The Labour Force Survey is conducted by statistical organisations according to the harmonised methodology in all European Union countries. The unemployment rate is the share of the unemployed in the total number of the employed and the unemployed.

A more thorough overview of the trends on the labour market during the crisis has been published on 30 September in the bulletin Eesti Statistika Kvartalikiri. 3/09. Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics Estonia