Commenting on quarterly jobs data released on Wednesday, Swedbank said that while unemployment dropping to the level of December 2008 exceeded its forecasts, such a big growth in employment came at the expense of productivity.
Drop in Estonia jobless numbers exceeds predictions - Swedbank
14th August 2013, 18:30
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Considering Statistics Estonia's estimates of the rapidly decelerated economic growth in the last two quarters, employment accelerated surprisingly fast in yearly comparison to 3.3 percent, chief economist of Swedbank Tonu Mertsina said.
A rapid growth in employment like this compared to the 1.3 percent increase in gross domestic product points to a decline in workforce productivity, according to an initial estimate, he said.
Mertsina added that although in yearly comparison employment in the processing industry increased again after four quarters of decline, in quarterly comparison employment has slightly decreased. Employment in the field of construction grows in spite of the decrease in value added at constant prices.
Although in the previous quarters the number of long-time unemployed persons and their percentage among unemployed have declined, long-time unemployed still make up 48 percent of all unemployed.
In the second quarter of 2013 the estimated number of unemployed persons dropped to 57,000 and the unemployment rate declined to 8.1 percent, Statistics Estonia said on Wednesday. The estimated number of unemployed decreased by 14,000 persons year-on-year.
The unemployment rate both in the first quarter this year and in the second quarter of 2012 was 10.2 percent. Unemployment has been dwindling since 2010.