Other events in Baltic States

A poll commissioned by Eesti Päevaleht indicated that Estonian residents are pessimistic towards their future, writes EPL Online/LETA.

The economic decline and the recent wave of redundancies has made people in Estonia worried about their future.

21% of all those polled by Faktum & Ariko fear losing their jobs in 2009, 40% do not consider this option likely and 4% do not have an opinion. 34% of respondents currently do not have jobs – mostly young persons and retired people.

The poll demonstrated that more than half of those currently working in the Viru region fear losing their jobs, but pessimistic moods are also wide-spread in Tallinn where the employment rate is higher as well as elsewhere in Estonia. Approximately 61% of the employed residents of the capital do not fear losing their positions next year.

It was also indicated that the fear of losing jobs is significantly higher among non-Estonian speaking population, reaching as high as 60% while nearly a quarter of those polled who speak Estonian fear lay-offs