Estonia’s unemployment rate fell to 6.6% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 7.8% in the same period a year earlier, marking the lowest second-quarter level since 2023. The number of unemployed persons declined by 10.2 thousand year-on-year to 49 thousand, consisting of 24.6 thousand men and 24.4 thousand women.
By gender, the unemployment rate for women dropped to 6.6% from 7.2%, while the rate for men declined to 6.6% from 8.4% a year earlier.
Across age groups, the youth unemployment rate (ages 15–24) decreased to 22.4% from 25.4%. Among those aged 25–49, the rate fell to 5.3% from 6.7%, and for individuals aged 50–74 it declined to 4.8% from 5.6%.
At the same time, the number of people outside the labor force, or economically inactive, increased by 13.1 thousand compared with a year ago. Overall employment declined by 5.7 thousand to 691.6 thousand, and the labor force participation rate fell by 1.4 percentage points to 73.4%.
