Estonia

1.Series

Title:

Registered unemployment.

Starting year:

1993.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Tööhõiveamet (Employment Office).

Type of agency:

Public service under a national authority.

Name of the national authority:

Labour Market Board (under the Ministry of Social Affairs).

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

In all 15 counties, plus one in Tallinn (36 local offices or their representatives throughout the country).

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

  • Giving information on situation in labour market and possibilities of employment training;
  • Employment mediation;
  • Employment training;
  • Employment subsidy to start business;
  • Employment subsidy to employers;
  • Community placements;
  • Vocational guidance;
  • Paying unemployment compensation;
  • Other: special programmes for disadvantaged groups (disabled, young and long-term unemployed).

    Percentage of job-seekers seeking work through the agency:

    55%.

    3.The following information is registered about a person:

  • Name;
  • Sex;
  • Personal identification code;
  • Address of usual residence;
  • Date of birth;
  • Citizenship;
  • Educational/vocational attainment, with 13 categories distinguished. Links to ISCED are planned;
  • Activity status, with 9 categories distinguished;
  • Occupation of past job, with 9 categories distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established (unit group level);
  • Occupation of job sought, with 9 categories distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established (unit group level);
  • Type of economic activity of previous employer/ workplace, with 16 categories distinguished. Links to ISIC, rev.3 or NACE, rev.1 have been established (class level);
  • Other: estonian-speaking; russian-speaking.

    4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

    A person shall be registered as unemployed with an employment office if he or she applies to the employment office and submits all the necessary documents pursuant to the procedure established by the Government of the Republic. Criteria:
  • Being without work (S);
  • Seeking work (S);
  • Availability for work (S);
  • Age (lower limit: 16 years; upper limit: pension age) (S);
  • Being permanently resident in the country (S).

    5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Death (S);
  • Taking up residency abroad (S);
  • Commencement of a (new) job (S);
  • Commencement of military service (S);
  • Studying in daytime or full-time study at an educational institution (S);
  • Stops seeking work for more than thirty days (S);
  • Refusal of 2 suitable job offers (S);
  • Refusal of 2 suitable training offers (S);
  • Attains the pensionable age or is granted an early-retirement pension (S);
  • Inability to work (S);
  • Other: termination of employment training without the consent of the Employment Office (S); receipt of employment subsidy (S).

    6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

    The registered unemployed person is a person with total or partial capacity for work who has attained at least 16 years of age and is under pensionable age, who is not employed, is ready to commence work immediately and seeks employment. A person seeks employment if he or she reports to an employment office at least once within thirty days, is willing to commence work immediately and is ready to participate in employment training [Source: "Social Protection of the Unemployed Act", para. 3] (http://www.tta.ee/english/law).

    7.Updating of the registers

    There is no central register for the whole country (one is under preparation). Every county has a database, which is updated regularly.

    8.Unemployment rates

    Statistics of employment offices are not used to obtain unemployment rates. Unemployment rates are calculated on the basis of Labour Force Survey data, according to the ILO methods. The Labour Market Board calculates the unemployment rate as the share of registered unemployed from working age people (16 - pension age), not from the labour force.

    9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

    Series 1:

    Reference period:

    Month.

    Frequency of production:

    Monthly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age group (3);
  • Educational level (4);
  • Geographic characteristics (county);
  • Other: estonian-speaking; russian-speaking; participation in employment services; number of new entrances; number of vacancies; number of placements; share of registered unemployed from working age people; number of unemployed receiving unemployment benefit.

    Form of publication:

  • On paper;
  • For limited audience (by e-mail);
  • On a website (http://www.tta.ee).

    Agency responsible for publication:

    Statistical Office of Estonia.

    Title and periodicity of the publication:

    Estonian Statistics, (Monthly).

    Series 2:

    Reference period:

    Quarter.

    Frequency of production:

    Quarterly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Occupation;
  • Economic activity;
  • Geographic characteristics (county and municipality);
  • Previous work experience;
  • Duration of unemployment;
  • Other: estonian-speaking; russian-speaking.

    Form of publication:

  • On paper (only partly at present, because the register is not yet ready);
  • For limited audience (by e-mail).

    10.Methodological information about the statistics

    Form of release:

  • On paper, for general audience;
  • On a website (http://www.tta.ee).

    Agency responsible for the release:

    Labour Market Board.

    11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

    Comparisons have been made mainly with unemployment statistics from the Labour Force Survey, but also from a household survey and the Population Census.

    Frequency of the comparisons:

    Regularly when the statistics are published.

    Publication of the methodology/results of the comparisons:

    These have been published in the following publications:
  • Estonian Labour Market and Labour Market Policy (Articles, ed. by Raul Eamets), Viljandi-Tartu, 1999;
  • Estonian Employment Action Plans for 2000 IVq - 2001, 2002 and 2003;
  • Eesti tööturu areng üleminekuperioodil (Eamets, R., Philips, K.), Tartu, 1999;
  • Estonian Statistics Monthly (Estonian Statistical Office).

    12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

    Major changes to legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics took place in: (i) 1995, when the first Social Protection of the Unemployed Act came into force, the resulting effects on the statistics have not been estimated; and (ii) 2000, when the new Social Protection of the Unemployed Act and the Employment Service Act entered into force, which resulted in an increase of 17 percent in the number of persons registered as unemployed.