According to the Statistical Office, there were 84,100 unemployed in Q4 of 2001 in Estonia, 11.9 percent of the country's working-age population. In the age group from 15 to 74, 620,300 people were employed, with the number of non-active people such as students, pensioners and other non-workers at 401,000, the Statistical Office said. In Q3, the unemployment rate, calculated by ILO methods, was 12 percent and in Q4 of 2000 13.9 percent. Employment, which increased in Q2 and Q3 last year, declined in Q4, but the fall was smaller than in the same period in 2000. The number of employees in Q4 was lower by 5,800 than in Q3, and 11,700 higher than in the same period in the year before. The year-on-year unemployment rate was lower in all four quarters in 2001. By age groups, the unemployment rate declined the most among 15-24-year-olds - from 26.4 percent in Q4 2000 to 19.4 percent in Q4 2001. By region, the rate of unemployment in Q4 was the highest in northeast Estonia (20.3 percent) and and lowest in west Estonia (8.4 percent). In Q4, the number of people active in the economy was 704,500 against 711,200 in Q3 and 702,200 in Q4 of 2000.

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