Estonian Human Development Report

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Table 4.4.3. Agreement of the Russian-speaking population with the statements regarding political influence and competence Ethnicity Citizenship Age Estonian Russian- Estoniasian Russpeaking Stateless 15–2930–49 50–74 Voting 85:11 72:23 83:13 74:19 60:36 74:22 69:27 70:20 Belonging to a political party Participating in voluntary organizations 28:64 26:63 28:64 26:61 27:66 29:64 24:63 27:59 68:25 57:33 66:26 55:35 56:36 60:32 52:39 59:29 Participating in 24:63 31:54 25:62 34:50 33:55 30:59 30:54 30:50 strikes Participating in collecting signatures/signing 45:45 43:44 46:44 43:47 36:51 45:46 45:43 39:44 petitions Participating in demonstrations/pickets All Citizenship Estonian Russian Stateless Table 4.4.4. Assessment of the importance of various forms of participation by ethnicity, citizenship and age (Percentage of respondents who thought it important: percentage of respondents who thought it unimportant) 27:60 34:53 29:59 38:51 30:57 35:55 31:54 34:49 Participating in Internet forums and 19:66 25:53 21:63 19:47 25:56 29:61 27:56 17:39 writing Internet commentaries Source: Integration of Estonian Society: Monitoring 2008 Age 15–29 30–49 50–74 The course of events in the country depends on the choices of the people, including myself and people like me … (tend to) agree 25 33 19 11 35 27 14 I think that I am sufficiently competent in political matters that my positions could be of interest to others … (tend to) agree 26 31 21 17 29 27 21 Source: Integration of Estonian Society: Monitoring 2008 tal organizations than Russian-speaking respondents. The latter, in turn, place somewhat greater importance on participating in strikes and pickets. Of Estonian citizens, 83%, of Russian citizens 74% and of stateless people, 60% think it is important to vote. There are no significant differences among groups of respondents with respect to the perceived importance of belonging to political parties. Young people, similarly to their parents’ and grandparents’ generations, References 1. Dalton, R. (2004). Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. Easton, D. (1965). A System Analysis of Political Life. New York: Wiley. 3. Estonian Human Development Report (2007), Chapter 3.7. “The infosphere and media use of Estonian Russians” pp. 77–81. favour conventional means of influencing politics – voting, participation in the work of nongovernmental organizations and collecting signatures. Unlike the older generation, young and middle-aged people think the Internet is a relatively important arena of political participation. The above findings show that Russian-speakers feel that, compared to ethnic Estonians, they have considerably fewer opportunities to be engaged in politics. Russian-speaking respondents who are Estonian citizens assess their political influence and competence more highly than people without Estonian citizenship. However, the lack of Estonian citizenship is not only a cause of political passivity but also a result of it: the fact that stateless people place less importance on voting suggests that they may have been less motivated to make efforts to secure the right to vote. Summary Several important aspects regarding the patterns of political support and participation in Estonia differ from those found in the “old” democracies. These include the lack of a shared definition of the political community, indecisive support for democracy as a form of government, weaker trust in the parliament and political parties and lower voter turnout compared to the EU average. We share many of these traits with other Eastern European countries. Throughout the transition period, however, the people of Estonia have given the performance of their political and economic systems considerably higher ratings than the inhabitants of Latvia and Lithuania. In both Estonia and Latvia, there is a clearly evident ethnic gap in public attitudes towards the state and its institutions. Despite progress achieved in naturalization, almost half of the Russian-speakers in Estonia (many of whom are Estonian citizens) do not consider themselves to be part of the Estonian nation in the constitutional meaning of the term. Only a quarter of Estonia’s Russian-speakers trust the Estonian state and slightly more than a tenth trust its principal political institutions – the Riigikogu, the government and the president. The results of a survey study carried out in spring 2008 show that the crisis of trust that accompanied the “bronze events” turned out to be deeper and longer lasting than expected. Neither European values nor security considerations allow us to disregard a crisis of trust of such proportions. The somewhat greater support for political institutions, greater identification with the Estonian people and higher assessment of their political influence and competence among young Russian-speakers offer some hope that ethnic differences in political attitudes may decrease over time. However, the current gap between the political assessments of the ethnic majority and the minorities is so large that we cannot rely on the slow process of a generational change to reduce it. 4. Estonian Human Development Report (2007), Chapter 2.2. “Civil initiative and voluntary organizing”, pp. 32–39. 5. Ehin, P. (2007). “Political Support in the Baltic States, 1993– 2004” Journal of Baltic Studies 38 (1), 1–20. 6. European Commission (2008), Eurobarometer 69: Public Opinion in the European Union, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm (1.10.2008) | 94
7. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2008), Databases and Networks: Voter Turnout, http://www. idea.int/ (1.10.2008) 8. Klingemann, H.-D. (1999). ”Mapping Political support in the 1990s: A Global Analysis”. Norris, P. (ed) (1999) Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 9. Munro, N. (2002). “Post-Communist Regime Support in Space and Time Context.” Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 18 (2) : pp. 103–125. 10. Norris, P. (ed (1999) Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 11. Office of the Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs at the State Chancellery (2008a), data file “Kodakondsuse statistika,” http://www.rahvastikuminister.ee (1.11.2008). 12. Office of the Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs at the State Chancellery (2008b), data from Integration of Estonian Society: Monitoring 2008 conducted in March–April 2008. 13. Rose, R. (2005). “New Baltic Barometer VI: A Post-Enlargement Survey” Studies in Public Policy No. 401. Glasgow: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde. 4.5. Non-Estonians in the labour market The data from Estonian Labour Force Surveys allow for clear and unequivocal conclusions to be drawn: the transition experience in the labour market was considerably more dramatic for non-Estonians than for Estonians. The risk of unemployment for non-Estonians has consistently been greater than for Estonians, and their lag in employment in top positions on the job market has been noticeable (see Table 4.5.1.). The differences are also significant in the case of young people. The economic boom at the beginning of this century was not accompanied by any significant changes in the distribution of risks and opportunities. With regard to the prevention of risks, the economic boom turned out to be more beneficial for Estonians, with the unemployment rate for Estonians decreasing faster than for non-Estonians – the unemployment rate for non-Estonians was 1.6 times higher in 2001, while by 2006 the difference was 2.4 times. In the case of young people (20–34-year-olds), the Estonians’ advantage tended to increase – the unemployment rates of young non-Estonians was less than double that of Estonians in 2001 (17.1% and 11.8% respectively), while by 2006, it was more than double (10.7% and 4.0% respectively). However, the great lead held by Estonians in employment in top positions in the labour market did decrease somewhat – less than 30% of Estonians and only 15% of non-Estonians worked as managers or professionals in 2001, while by 2006 the corresponding indicators were 31% and 19%, or the difference decreased from 2 times to 1.6 times. Among 20–34-year-olds, the difference decreased as follows: while 26% of young Estonians and only 10% of non-Estonians were employed as managers or professionals in 2001, by 2006, the corresponding ratios were 20% and 17%; in other words, the overrepresentation of young Estonians in top positions in the labour market had decreased from 2.6 times to 1.8 times. Ethnic inequality in the Estonian labour market and human capital In Estonia’s public discourse, an individual-centred approach to understanding the inequalities of the labour market dominates. Explanations of the different opportunities of ethnic groups in the labour market are based on the theory of human capital. One can define a narrower and broader meaning for human capital. The narrower meaning primarily includes knowledge, skills and experience that enable one to successfully cope with work assignments. In this case, only education and/or area of job activity (indicator for the nature of the work experience) and/or age (measure of the duration of the work experience) are taken into account. There is also a broader meaning of human capital, which, in addition to education and job-related skills, also includes language skills and cultural knowledge. Usually certain human capital is more useful in one or another social context, and therefore the human capital necessary in the labour market differs from country to country. An upheaval in the social order can be accompanied by changes in the value of certain aspects of human capital. As a result of the reforms that took place after the restoration of Estonian independence, the greatest change occurred in the importance of Estonian language proficiency as an essential component of human capital. Table 4.5.1. The level of unemployment and percentage of professionals and managers by ethnicity, and for non-Estonians, by their citizenship and Estonian language proficiency, average for 2001–2006, % Unemployment level Work force (ages 15–74) Young people (ages 15–29) a Answers to the questions: (a) What language do you speak at home? If you use several languages, indicate them all, starting with the most frequently used. (b) In addition to the language you speak at home, do you know how to speak some other language or do you understand some other language within the limits of everyday communications? (c) What other languages do you know? In addition to the fact that Estonian is spoken at home, we considered the answer “can speak and write” as an indicator of good Estonian language skills in the case of question (c). b We considered the following answers to indicate poor Estonian language skills: “can understand within the limits of everyday communications” for question (c) and not indicating Estonian in the case of question (b). Source: Estonian Labour Force Surveys 2001–2006. Percentage of professionals and managers Work force (ages 15–74) Young people (ages 20–35) Estonians 7.8 14.7 11.3 11.1 Non-Estonians 14.6 23.0 7.1 5.9 … with Estonian citizenship 12.3 17.3 9.8 8.0 …who are stateless 16.8 26.2 4.5 3.4 …with foreign citizenship 15.8 26.7 5.8 5.7 …good Estonian language proficiency a 10.0 16.1 11.2 9.0 …poor Estonian language proficiency b 16.3 25.9 6.5 4.5 95 |
Page 1 and 2:
Estonian Human Development Report
Page 3 and 4:
Estonian Human Development Report T
Page 5:
4.2. Ethnic differentiations in sat
Page 9:
Preface This year, the Estonian Hum
Page 12 and 13:
CHAPTER 1 Estonian Human Developmen
Page 14 and 15:
Figure 1.1.3. Life expectancy in co
Page 16 and 17:
Figure 1.2.2. Life expectancy at bi
Page 18 and 19:
to reality. The greatest inaccuracy
Page 20 and 21:
Figure 1.2.9. Internal migration ev
Page 22 and 23:
12. Marksoo, A. 1992. “Dynamics o
Page 24 and 25:
Table 1.3.1. PISA 2006 study result
Page 26 and 27:
Table 1.3.2. Number of students in
Page 28 and 29:
1.4. The gross domestic product and
Page 30 and 31:
Figure 1.4.3. Estonian GDP (right a
Page 32 and 33:
1.5. Changes in the Estonian Human
Page 34 and 35:
2.2. Health of Estonian residents i
Page 36 and 37:
Table 2.2.4. Differences in life ex
Page 38 and 39:
Figure 2.4.1. Healthy life years of
Page 40 and 41:
Figure 2.4.4. Various accidents, tr
Page 42 and 43:
2.5. Lifestyle and behaviour as a s
Page 44 and 45:
Figure 2.5.5. Smoking in Estonia in
Page 46 and 47: Figure 2.6.1. Overview of the compo
Page 48 and 49: Table 2.6.2. Use of specialized med
Page 50 and 51: dren. The majority of services are
Page 52 and 53: Figure 2.8.2. How much a health dis
Page 54 and 55: 2.10. Policy recommendations aimed
Page 56 and 57: CHAPTER 3 Quality of life and life
Page 58 and 59: Table 3.2.1. Characteristics of liv
Page 60 and 61: Table 3.2.4. An assessment of the e
Page 62 and 63: Figure 3.2.4. Difference in the job
Page 64 and 65: Table 3.2.6. Agreement with stateme
Page 66 and 67: Figure 3.3.1. Satisfaction with lif
Page 68 and 69: Figure 3.3.4. Percentage of people
Page 70 and 71: Figure 3.4.1. Types of quality of l
Page 72 and 73: Figure 3.5.1. Percentage of teenage
Page 74 and 75: Figure 3.5.4. Percentage of respond
Page 76 and 77: Arieh A., Conti C., Kutsar D., Nicg
Page 78 and 79: Figure 3.6.2. Subjective quality of
Page 80 and 81: Pieper, A. Sixsmith, Care related q
Page 82 and 83: Figure 3.7.1. The placement of Euro
Page 84 and 85: Figure 4.2.1. Life satisfaction by
Page 86 and 87: Table 4.2.1. Factors forming genera
Page 88 and 89: Annexes Annex 4.2.1. Socio-demograp
Page 90 and 91: Figure 4.3.1. Changes in the assess
Page 92 and 93: Figure 4.3.4. Attitudes of the Esto
Page 94 and 95: olds considered themselves to be pa
Page 98 and 99: Table 4.5.2. The prospects of non-E
Page 100 and 101: Figure 4.5.4. Certainty of Estonian
Page 102 and 103: mote equal opportunities. At the (e
Page 104 and 105: CHAPTER 5 Quality of life in a cons
Page 106 and 107: Figure 5.2.1. GDP and AIC per capit
Page 108 and 109: Figure 5.2.3. Distribution of consu
Page 110 and 111: Figure 5.2.4. Indexes of environmen
Page 112 and 113: Table 5.3.1. Comparison of countrie
Page 114 and 115: Figure 5.3.3. Comparison of types o
Page 116 and 117: Table 5.3.5. Connections between po
Page 118 and 119: Table 5.4.1. Who and what are the f
Page 120 and 121: Table 5.4.3. Young people’s asses
Page 122 and 123: Figure 5.4.6. Time spent on the con
Page 124 and 125: Table 5.4.6. The perception of prob
Page 126 and 127: 5.6. Summary To briefly summarize t
Page 128 and 129: Table 6.2.1. Objective and subjecti
Page 130 and 131: Figure 6.2.4. Relationship between
Page 132 and 133: Figure 6.2.7. Difference between th
Page 134 and 135: Figure 6.3.1. GDP, government secto
Page 136 and 137: Figure 6.3.3. Employed 15-74-year-o
Page 138 and 139: Figure 6.3.8. Percentage of social
Page 140 and 141: References 1. Aaviksoo, A., G. Paat
Page 142 and 143: Figure 6.4.1. Labour market flexibi
Page 144 and 145: Figure 6.4.3. Creations of jobs ind
Page 146 and 147:
Figure 6.4.5. Public expenditures o
Page 148 and 149:
Figure 6.4.6. Ratio of the particip
Page 150 and 151:
6.5. Cities as development engines
Page 152 and 153:
Table 6.5.2. Existence of developme
Page 154 and 155:
have been underfinanced or are not
Page 156 and 157:
Table 7.1. Factors that favour and
Page 158 and 159:
Table 7.2. Potential economic devel
Page 160 and 161:
Authors Chapter 1 Ene-Margit Tiit,
Page 162 and 163:
Margit Keller (PhD) is a Senior Res
Page 164 and 165:
Special prizes Estonian Human Devel
Page 166 and 167:
Estonian Human Development Report H
Page 168 and 169:
Estonian Human Development Report H
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Honorable mentions Estonian Human D
Page 174 and 175:
Estonian Human Development Report P
Page 176 and 177:
Estonian Human Development Report A
Page 178:
show all

Estonian Human Development Report

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?