Estonia - Labor Force Employment

The Estonian Labour Force Survey is based on the definitions from the International Labour Organisation that allow for comparision of collected data to other countries.The dataset provides information on the employed persons by place of residence (urban settlement or rural settlement), county and sector of economy (primary, secondary or tertiary sector), employed persons by county and age group and labor status of population aged between 15 to 74 by county.

• Measurements:
  • Thousands of persons (Ths. #)
  • Percent (%)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA) 
• Native frequency: Quarterly
• Start date: As early as 1989Q1, but most series start at 2000Q1
• Geos: 
• Country (IEST)
• All 5 NUTS 3 areas (IEST_aaa)
• LAU 1 areas / municipalities (IEST_nnnnn)

The source writes:

The Statistical Office of Estonia conducted the first Labour Force Survey at the beginning of 1995 (ELFS 95). In 1997–1999 the survey was conducted in the 2nd quarter. Starting from the year 2000 the survey is a continuous survey providing quarterly and annual results. The reference weeks for the households in the sample are spread uniformly throughout the whole year, e.g. for every week of the year same number of interviews is done.

The target population of the survey are the working-age residents of Estonia (aged 15–74). Since 2002, the date of birth is taken into account then calculating the age of the respondent: the working age population is the population between the ages of 15 and 74 in the reference week.

The expansion of the data of the Labour Force Survey is based on the estimated population of as of January 1st of the reference year. The expansion coefficients have been calculated according to county, sex and 5-year age groups.

All the data presented are estimates of actual parameters. The estimates that are based on less than 20 persons of the sample have not been published (in tables the symbol “..”) as not sufficiently reliable.

Due to rounding, the total sums in tables are not always equal with the total. The difference can be up to some last decimal places.

Changes to method

The Estonian Labor Force Survey has implemented IESS principles as of results for 2021Q1 disseminated in May 2021, The survey has changed, but not the portion of the results that we extract. That is, the age threshhold has expanded from "15-74" to "15 and older," but we have always extracted the 15-74 bracket. However, there are three other definitional changes that have induced revisions within metrics based on the 15-74 bracket:

• Definitions of employment and unemployment, mainly related to child care leave.
• Persons living in institutions (prisons, hospitals, defense forces, etc.) are now excluded.
• Weights

Our time series contain a break: old method until 2020Q4, new method from 2021Q1.

Definitions

The Economically active population / labour force includes persons who wish and are able to work and is the total of employed and unemployed persons.

Employed person are those who engaged in the following activity during the reference period: worked and was paid as a wage earner, entrepreneur or a free-lancer; worked without direct payment in a family enterprise or on his / her own farm; was temporarily absent from work.

Employment rate is the share of the employed in the working-age population.

The share of the labour force (total number of the employed and unemployed) in the working-age population makes up the Labour force participation rate / activity rate.

An unemployed person meets the following three conditions: he or she is without work (does not work anywhere at the moment and is not temporarily absent from work); he or she is currently (in the course of two weeks) available for work if there should be work; he or she is actively seeking work.

Unemployment rate is the share of the unemployed in the labour force.

Urban settlement includes cities, cities without municipal status and towns.

Rural settlement includes small towns and villages.

Primary sector includes agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing.

Secondary sector includes mining, manufacturing, electricity, gas & water supply and construction.

Tertiary sector includes trade, services, etc.

Moody's Analytics supplements

For the LFS quartet for the country and NUTS 3 areas, we previously computed seasonally adjusted counterparts (1989 to 2020).

Potentially.

Breaks

Starting at 2021Q1, the time series contain results for a new LFS method compliant with IESS.

Further reading

At the source:

• Changes in the methodology of the Estonian Labour Force Survey with comparative charts of results under the two methods (May 2021)
• Dead link

At IMF (SDDS):

• Labor market: Employment (Sep 2021 / Jan 2022)
• Labor market: Unemployment (Sep 2021 / Jan 2022)