Economy of Estonia - Employment Participation

Employment Participation

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Estonia has around 600,000 employees, yet the country has a shortage of skilled labor, and since skill shortages are experienced everywhere in Europe, the government has increased working visa quota for non-EEA citizens, although it has nevertheless been criticized for being inadequate for addressing the shortages.

The late-2000s recession in the world, the near-concurrent local property bust with changes in Estonian legislation to increase labour market flexibility (making it easier for companies to lay off workers) saw Estonia's unemployment rate shoot up to 18.8% throughout the duration of the crisis, then stabilise to 13.8% by summer 2011, as the economy recovered on the basis of strong exports; as internal consumption, and therefore imports, plummeted; and as cuts were made in public finances. Some of the reduction in unemployment has been attributed to some Estonians' emigrating for employment, to Finland, UK, Australia, and elsewhere.