Estonia's unemployment rate rose to 14.4 per cent last month, according to official government data.

The eastern European country's Labor Board disclosed that the national jobless rate increased by 0.4 per cent in February from 14 per cent in January, while the number of people registered as unemployed increased to 93,802.

The public agency also revealed that it had received just 2,214 new vacancies to offer these individuals in February.

However, this figure is 30 per cent higher than recorded in January and the largest figure posted in more than three years, Baltic Business News reported.

Regionally, the number of registered unemployed reached 20.6 per cent in Ida-Virumaa, 9.6 per cent in Jogevamaa, while 25 per cent of those without work were previously white-collar employees.

Estonia's economy was the second worst hit by the recession of the 27 European Union members, with gross domestic product declining by 15.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2009 alone.