Last week, the agency released incorrect data that put the year-on-year rise at 13.8 percent.

The corrected data shows the average monthly gross wages and salaries in Q2 2025 were highest in Tallinn (at €2,479 per month), and in the surrounding Harju County (€2,365), with Tartu County not far behind at €2,175 per month.

Statistics Estonia Sigrid Saagpakk analyst said: "Compared with the second quarter of last year, the biggest increase in wages and salaries was seen in Põlva County (7.7 percent) and Rapla County (7 percent). The smallest wage increase was registered in Ida-Viru County (3.8 percent),"

By sector, average monthly gross wages and salaries were highest in information and communication (ICT) at €3,704 per month, in financial and insurance activities (€3,389), and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (€3,164).

The lowest average wages and salaries were registered in accommodation and food service activities at €1,328 per month.

Saagpakk noted that the largest on-year rise in average gross wages to Q2 2025 was seen in agriculture, with a 13-percent rise.

Average gross wages in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply saw the smallest rise, at 0.8 percent on year to Q2 2025.

The year-on-year rise in wages and salaries stood at 5.7 percent in state enterprises, organizations, and institutions, at 2.7 percent in local government institutions, at 5.4 percent in the private sector, and was highest with foreign-owned entities, at 8.3 percent.

In terms of numbers of employees by sector, the largest number of employees – at 100,330 – worked in manufacturing, representing 16.9 percent of all employees.

This was followed by wholesale and retail trade (including the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles) with 88,090 employees, education with 64,870 employees, and human health and social work activities, with 48,870 staff.

More detailed data is available from Statistics Estonia's website here.

Amended data after errors in initial calculations

Statistics Estonia announced it had published incorrect wage data for Q2 2025 last week. It said there were major faults in the automated data transmission process, which had gone undetected during analysis.

The agency's Director General Urmet Lee apologized for the mistake.

The original report of a 13.8 percent on-year rise in the average (mean) wage and an 8.8 percent rise in the median wage on year to Q2 2025 raised eyebrows. Luminor Bank chief economist Lenno Uusküla questioned the data's validity and noting an unexpected spike in wages for high-income earners.

The Bank of Estonia estimated Q2's 2025 wage growth to be closer to 6 percent.

Bank of Estonia analyst Kaspar Oja said while both the data and methodology the central bank uses is slightly different from Statistics Estonia's, Wednesday's discrepancy was notably large.

Statistics Estonia began rechecking that data from 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Economist: Gender wage gap continues to widen

Agricultural concerns that ERR spoke to said that they have raised wages this year, though only modestly, and also when taking seasonal working into account.

Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce agricultural policy head Ants-Hannes Viira said: "If we look at the second quarter two years ago, then actually wages in agriculture have grown as much as in Estonia on average, that is 14 percent. Here agriculture moves in the two-year view at the same pace as the average [overall] wage in Estonia. As to why in the second quarter wages rose in agriculture while employment also rises, this is that one aspect of agriculture is seasonal. The horticulture sector season begins in the second quarter, workers are taken on."

The wage and employment growth also reflects livestock farming, but before the effects of the current African swine fever (ASF) epidemic have been factored in.

"This year and also last year we have been in a situation where agricultural sectors relating to animal husbandry have quite a strong market situation, and this is reflected also in the wages. If we are speaking here about milk production, beef cattle breeding, also pig farming, before African swine fever, then this market situation has been positive, and this is also reflected in the wages paid to employees," Viira added.

The first ASF cases in Estonia this year were found in mid-June, near the end of the second quarter.

By gender, men on average earned 15.2 percent more than women, or €301 per month.

Luminor bank chief economist Lenno Uusküla noted that this was the largest growth in wage inequality seen in recent years.

"We have not seen such a rather large growth of wage inequality in Estonia over the last years," he said.

At the same time, wage growth was roughly the same across each payscale, while the ratio of median to mean salary had not changed much, Uusküla noted.

"Lower wage earners, higher wage earners have seen more or less the same kind of wage growth. The ratio of median wage and average wage has not fluctuated very much around 82 percent, currently a little lower, but the second quarter may again be higher," he said.

The same could be said across different sectors.

Editor's note: This article was updated to include quotes from Ants-Hannes Viira and Lenno Uusküla.

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