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The problems include the very limited availability of skilled<br />

labour (58th position in 2012); lack of labour with financial<br />

knowledge (57th); the lack of competent managers (57th);<br />

risk of a brain drain (51st); and very limited attractiveness<br />

for foreign skilled labour (51st). One of the possible reasons<br />

for the scarcity of skilled labour is the non-conformity<br />

of the workers’ educational levels to the demands of the<br />

labour market and the insufficient training of workers,<br />

which is alluded to by the positions that Estonia achieved<br />

in the Global Competitiveness Index (Table 1.3.4 in<br />

sub-chapter 1.3, which deals with education.)<br />

Based on the labour market indicators used for the<br />

IMD ranking, one of Estonia’s relative strengths is the high<br />

participation of women in the labour market (1st in 2011,<br />

and also in a leading position in previous years). As far as<br />

labour costs are concerned, Estonia ranks in the middle of<br />

the IMD sub-index (23rd); and also in the middle of company<br />

managers’ assessment of constructive employment<br />

relationships (21st) and the employment rate (32nd.)<br />

In the IMD indices related to employment, the Asian<br />

states rank at the top. In the employment sub-indices<br />

from 2008 to 2011, China, Thailand, Qatar and Singapore<br />

headed up the rankings. This reflects the size of the<br />

labour markets and high employment rates in these countries.<br />

The states that appeared at the top of the labour<br />

market sub-index in various years included Singapore,<br />

Thailand, the Philippines and Hong Kong. Of the other<br />

Asian states, which were chosen as reference states for<br />

Estonia (Table 4.3.1), Taiwan, South Korea have also been<br />

ranked higher than Estonia in competitiveness; while<br />

among the European reference states, Switzerland and the<br />

Netherlands, which have higher employment rates and<br />

highly qualified labour according to the assessments of<br />

employers, are at the forefront. A more detailed comparison<br />

of the employment indicators of the European Union<br />

and OECD states alludes to the fact that Estonia lags<br />

behind many states due to the percentage of employed<br />

persons in the population, although the ones who are<br />

employed work long hours. In 2011, Estonia’s employment<br />

rate for 15- to 64-year-olds (the most commonly<br />

used age group in international comparisons) was 65.1%<br />

according to Eurostat data, while the rate was 79.3% in<br />

Switzerland, 74.1% in the Netherlands, and 74.1% in Sweden<br />

(see Figure 4.3.1).<br />

A large number of part-time employees are the reason<br />

for the high employment rates in Europe, and therefore,<br />

the average annual number of working hours per<br />

employed person in these states is not high. If part-time<br />

employees in Estonia comprise 9.3% of all employment<br />

(2011), in Switzerland it is 33.9%, in the Netherlands,<br />

48.5% and in Sweden, 24.7%. As a result, the number<br />

of working hours per employed person in Estonia is significantly<br />

higher than in these states. (Based on OECD<br />

data, it was even 1,924 hours in Estonia in 2011 2 ; 1,632<br />

in Switzerland, 1,379 in the Netherlands, and 1,644 in<br />

Sweden). The combined impact of the hours worked<br />

and the employment rate gives us the number of annual<br />

working hours per working-age person, which, among<br />

the states under observation, is highest in Switzerland,<br />

Figure 4.3.1<br />

Employment rate for 15- to 64-year olds, and the annual<br />

working hours per worker and person, 2011<br />

Annual working hours per worker<br />

Annual working hours per person<br />

Working hours<br />

Switzerland<br />

New Zealand<br />

Chile<br />

Estonia<br />

Canada<br />

Sweden<br />

Czech<br />

Republic<br />

Finland<br />

Austria<br />

OECD<br />

Israel<br />

Greece<br />

Denmark<br />

Slovenia<br />

Slovakia<br />

Luxembourg<br />

Netherlands<br />

Germany<br />

Italy<br />

Belgium<br />

Spain<br />

France<br />

Ireland<br />

Employment rate<br />

0 500 1000 1500 2000<br />

Percentage 0 20 40 60 80<br />

Source: Eurostat, table, Employment rates by sex, age and<br />

nationality (%); OECD, OECD.StatExtracts, table “Average annual<br />

hours actually worked per worker”, last viewed on 01.02.13; the<br />

authors’ computations.<br />

New Zealand, Chile and Estonia. In Estonia, this totalled<br />

1,253 hours in 2011, which is significantly higher than<br />

the average for the OECD states (1,151 hours).<br />

Therefore, based on the example of other states,<br />

Estonia does not need to increase the number of working<br />

hours per person, as much as it needs to reduce the<br />

number of unemployed and inactive people, including by<br />

increasing part-time work.<br />

The change in the age structure of the population<br />

has a long-term impact on the labour market. While,<br />

at the beginning of 2011, 62% of Estonia’s population<br />

2 At the same time, in the IMD Index, only 1,762 working hours per year are used for Estonia in 2011.<br />

Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013<br />

167

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