In the 1st quarter, the number of job vacancies increased

The rate of job vacancies, i.e. the share of job vacancies in the total number of jobs, was 1.5% in the 1st quarter of 2016; this is 0.3 percentage points higher than in the 4th quarter of 2015 and 0.2 percentage points higher than in the 1st quarter of 2015.

The rate of job vacancies was the highest in the economic activity of information and communication (3.6%) and the lowest in mining and quarrying (0.1%), which had the lowest rate of all economic activities in the 1st quarter of 2015 as well.

The largest share of vacant and occupied posts in the total number of jobs was recorded in manufacturing (19%), wholesale and retail trade (15.6%) and education (10%).

The increase in the number of job vacancies was the biggest in information and communication where there were two times more job vacancies than in the 1st quarter of 2015.

57% of the vacant and occupied posts were in Harju county (including Tallinn), followed by Tartu county (11%) and Ida-Viru county (7.5%). The rate of job vacancies was still the highest in Harju county (1.8%) and the lowest in Saare county (0.7%).

6,100 job vacancies (74%) were in the private sector and 2,200 (26%)  in the public sector. In the 1st quarter of 2016, the rate of job vacancies was 1.5% 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 2015, a total of 67,000 employees were hired or left their jobs, meaning there was a 2% decrease compared to the same quarter of 2014. Compared to the 4th quarter of 2014, the largest increase in labour turnover occurred in information and communication (25.5%) and in agriculture, forestry and fishing (24.0%).

The data are based on the job vacancies and labour turnover survey conducted by Statistics Estonia since 2005. In 2016, the sample includes 12,603 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 a 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.