In the 3rd quarter, there were nearly 8,600 job vacancies

The rate of job vacancies, i.e. the share of job vacancies in the total number of jobs, was 1.6% in the 3rd quarter and remained on the same level as in the 3rd quarter of 2013. The rate of job vacancies was the highest in administrative and support service activities (2.6%) and the lowest in mining and quarrying (0.04%). 

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, for the second consecutive quarter, the number of job vacancies was the highest in construction; in the 3rd quarter, however, the growth slowed down. While in the 2nd quarter, the number of vacancies in construction grew by 73% within a year, then in the 3rd quarter by 52%.

Two-thirds of the vacancies and slightly more than a half of the occupied posts are located in Harju county (including Tallinn). The job vacancy rate remained the highest in Harju county (1.9%) and the lowest in Hiiu county (0.6%).

By type of ownership, 30% of job vacancies were in the public sector and 70% in the private sector, where the largest share was in Estonian-owned enterprises. In the public sector, the job vacancy rate was 1.8% and in the private sector – 1.5%. The public sector also includes companies owned by the state or the local government.

The movement of labour is characterised by labour turnover – in the 2nd quarter of 2014, a total of 77,000 employees were hired or left their jobs. Compared to the same period of the previous year, labour turnover has increased by 4%. Labour turnover was the highest in wholesale and retail trade (15,500 employees), followed by manufacturing, administrative and support service activities and construction.

A job vacancy is a paid post that is newly created, unoccupied or becomes vacant when an employee leaves, and for which the employer is actively trying to find a suitable candidate from outside the enterprise, institution or organisation concerned.

The data are based on the job vacancies and labour turnover survey conducted by Statistics Estonia since 2005. In 2014, the sample included 12,267 enterprises, institutions and organisations; and the data of randomly selected units is imputed to the total population for each stratum separately.