Analytics, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Markets and Companies, Wages

The 42% means nearly 415,000 Estonian working age people have a positive attitude towards working abroad.

EURES asked how big wages people expect abroad, and the result was that a salary that would make an Estonian move is at least a 2,000 EUR net wage a month. For Estonia, that has the biggest gender-based wage gap in Europe, the expectations of woman are much lower than those of men: 61% of men expected at least a 2,000 net age while working abroad, while just 29% of women were as hopeful.

EURES manager Marta Traks said that the expectations of Estonians are exaggerated. "My Swedish colleagues started to just laugh when hearing that (2000 EUR net wage expectation – ed.)," she said. "People's expectations about wages are high, often unrealistic. I can only explain it with the fact that people who go to work from Estonia abroad, earn a high wage because of travel expenses compensations and overtime work and that is where the unrealistic expectation emerges that it is possible to earn that in regular hours. Earning 2,000 EUR net wage at once is not realistic, taxes are rather high in Scandinavia," she said.

The study indicated that the profession of a construction worker is the most alluring abroad: 13% of those polled would work abroad as one. Next come customer service staff, drivers and bus drivers, IT specialists and medical workers (5%).

Traks pointed out that a lot of people who have never worked as construction workers home, would like to work in this job abroad. "They think that this is what they could handle," she said.

Around a third of people who were interested in a job abroad said they would be ready to leave Estonia forever, which is a dangerous sign, said Traks.