Analytics, Education and Science, Employment, Estonia, Labour-market

As can be expected, young people are most likely to work in summer and most likely to be not employed in winter. The ratio of young people who are simultaneously working and studying has increased, and in the third quarter of last year approximately one in four young people aged 15-24 pursuing their studies also worked, compared with one in six five years earlier.

As an average for the full year, 7% of 15 to 19-year-olds and 39% of 20 to 24-year-olds who were pursuing their studies also worked in 2016.

The rate of employment of young men has been growing at a slower rate than the rate of employment of young women in the past five years. Where in the third quarter of 2011 the employment rate of young men was five percentage points higher than of women, in the third quarter of 2016 employed young women of ages 15-24 already made up 40% of all women of that age group, compared with a ratio of 41.5% among men.

In 2016, more than half of the young people in employment were employed in three areas of activity: manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and maintenance of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and accommodation and catering. Where the former two were popular areas of employment also for older residents, accommodation and catering did not make the top three in any other age segment. Information and communication is a rising area of employment for young people in Estonia, accounting for 7% of total employed young people.

Also the share of young people in temporary jobs is on the rise. Where in the summer of 2008 the ratio of employed young people working in a temporary job was 10%, in 2016 it was 19%.