There were fewer jobs and more job seekers in Estonia in the 4th quarter of 2009. According to the Estonian Labor Force Survey conducted by Statistics Estonia, the country’s unemployment rate increased to 15.5% and the number of unemployed persons rose to 107,000. Both figures are record highs for the period since 1991.
Estonia’s unemployment rate remains the 3rd-highest in Europe, trailing only Latvia (22.8%) and Spain (19.5%). The 4th quarter unemployment rate across the 27-member European Union was 9.6%. Unemployment in the United States at the end of the 4th quarter was 10.0%.
As discussed in this earlier post, the job picture for young people aged 15 to 24 is particularly bad. Moreover, according to the Estonian Labor Force Survey, the number of children suffering from the effects of their parents’ unemployment is also increasing:
[M]ore and more children are in [a] difficult economic situation. The number of children (less than 18 years of age) in … jobless households was 37,000 in the 4th quarter of 2009, which is over two times more than a year ago.
The survey also asked respondents how well they were coping, and the results are sadly unsurprising: fewer than half of all respondents rated their coping as “satisfactory,” with 16% of the population (164,000 people) reporting “great difficulties” in coping.
Let’s hope things begin to turn around soon.
Estonia on the Map 