In the 1st quarter, there were 7,300 job vacancies

The rate of job vacancies, i.e. the share of job vacancies in the total number of jobs, was 1.3% in the 1st quarter of 2015, which is the same as in the previous quarter and in the 1st quarter of 2014.

The rate of job vacancies was the highest in public administration and defence and compulsory social security (2.5%) and the lowest in mining and quarrying (0.2%).

The highest share of vacant and occupied posts in the total number of jobs was held by manufacturing (20%), wholesale and retail trade (16%) and education (10%).

The rise in the number of job vacancies was the highest in education where there were 37% more job vacancies than in the 1st quarter of 2014.

56% of vacant and occupied posts were in Harju county (including Tallinn), followed by Tartu county (11%) and Ida-Viru county (8%). The rate of job vacancies was still the highest in Harju county (1.6%) and the lowest in Hiiu county (0.04%).

73% of the job vacancies (i.e. 5,300) were in the private sector and 27% were in the public sector, while in the 1st quarter of 2014 the corresponding shares were 76% and 24%. In the 1st quarter of 2015, the rate of job vacancies was 1.3% in both the public and the private sector. The public sector includes companies owned by the state or local governments.

The movement of labour is characterised by labour turnover. In the 4th quarter of 2014, a total of 68,000 employees were hired or left their jobs, which is a 10.3% increase compared to the same period of 2013. In the 4th quarter of 2014, the largest increase in labour turnover compared to the 4th quarter of 2013 occurred in accommodation and food service activities and in real estate activities (57.5% and 45.8%, respectively).

The data are based on the job vacancies and labour turnover survey conducted by Statistics Estonia since 2005. In 2015, the sample includes 12,376 enterprises, institutions and organisations; the data of randomly selected units are imputed to the total population separately in each stratum.

The number of job vacancies is the total number of job vacancies on the 15th day of the second month of the quarter. 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.