Education and Science, Estonia, Labour-market, Legislation, Markets and Companies

“We find that inclusion of top-level specialists from abroad to the labour market will help Estonia to move towards a smarter and more productive economy and this would also have a positive impact on the wages of local employees,” stated the head of the trade unions’ organisation Peep Peterson.

At the same time, the confederation notes that there are already many capable talents in Estonia and contributions ought to be made to their development as well.

The trade unions continue to be opposed to opening the labour market to cheap unqualified labour, as it would not contribute the economy in any way. “This might even slow down the increase in productivity and lower wages in Estonia. We would be prepared to return to this issue on the condition that sectors that need unqualified labour would first conclude a pan-Estonian pay agreement that would also set measures for the overall increase in labour productivity and pay levels,” noted Peterson.

The draft legislative amendments initiated by the minister of education and science Jaak Aaviksoo, minister of economic affairs and communications Juhan Parts and minister of internal affairs Ken-Marti Vaher aim to significantly facilitate and speed up proceedings necessary for applying for residence permits in order to work in Estonia as top-level specialist, for operating businesses or for studies.