The unemployment rate in the century-long history of Estonia has dropped in third quarter of the year to a record low of 3.9%, the country’s official statistics show.

Statistics Estonia reported in a press release on Thursday, November 14, that the labour force participation rate was 71.9% and the employment rate was 69%.

The estimated number of employed persons was 677,300, which is 10,700 more than in the same quarter of the previous year.

The number of long-term unemployed also declined.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.3 percentage points. The labour force participation rate and the employment rate remained at a similar level, statisticians write.

The highest employment rate was expectedly recorded among the population aged 25–49 (84.3%) and the employment rate among people aged 50–74 remains at a high level (60.1%), according to Statistics Estonia.