Analytics, Estonia, Labour-market, Modern EU

In addition, more than one in two people in employment report tensions and stress resulting from money related concerns, Palgainfo Agentuur said.

The average monthly gross pay in Estonia in the second quarter of this year increased by 7.4% compared to the same quarter of 2018 to 1,419 euros, Statistics Estonia said on Wednesday. The average monthly gross pay was 1,411 euros in April, 1,400 euros in May and 1,445 euros in June.

A labor market and wage survey carried out by Palgainfo Agentuur and CVKeskus.ee in spring indicates, however, that the economic coping of people in employment has not improved. Where in a similar survey in spring 2018, 80% of respondents considered their coping to be intermediate, good or very good, in the survey of spring 2019 the ratio of such answers was 79%.

Employees who saw their coping as intermediate earned a gross pay of 1,431 euros on the average per month, while those viewing their coping as good or very good earned over 2,000 euros a month.

The category of people in employment having the most positive assessments of their coping are managers, including top and mid-level specialists, most of whom estimated their coping to be intermediate, good of very good.

Where in the category of managers, top specialists and mid-level specialists the assessment of one's coping almost did not change during the year, in several lower paid categories the assessment of one's coping deteriorated. 

"If last year we saw a leap in people's assessments of their coping in several job categories, then this year the assessments rather are similar to those of the survey of 2017. For instance, of office clerks, 71% coped with their salary this spring, compared with 80% a year ago and 69% in 2017," the manager of Palgainfo Agentuur, Kadri Seeder, said in a press release.

Of sales and service personnel 58% coped with their remuneration this year, compared with 64% in 2018 and 51% in the year before that.

"Employees' assessments of their coping may have been affected by the changes in the calculation of tax-free income that took place last year, which left more money in the hands of lower-paid employees. By now people have got accustomed to a slightly higher pay, and in addition wage increases have reduced the size of tax-free income for many employees," Seeder added.

Poor coping of employees also has to do with tensions and stress, with 52% of employees saying they have tensions and stress as a result of concerns related to money and 19% saying they are experiencing such tensions frequently. Of employees viewing their coping as poor, almost half experience money related tensions frequently. Such employees also are more prone to suffer from work and health related stress.

The twice-yearly labor market and wage survey conducted by Palgainfo Agentuur and CVKeskus.ee covered representatives from 523 organizations and 9,350 employees and people looking for a job.