Eurofound's COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the crisis, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for case EE-2020-23/1249 – measures in Estonia
Country | Estonia , applies nationwide |
Time period | Temporary, 01 June 2020 – 31 December 2020 |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Promoting the economic, labour market and social recovery
– Active labour market policies, incl. subsidised job creation |
Author | Ingel Kadarik (Praxis Center for Policy Studies) and Eurofound |
Case created | 06 October 2020 (updated 15 October 2020) |
Berry growers have been dependent on foreign workforce during summer for years, as there has been a lack of local workforce willing to participate in agricultural activities during the peak harvesting period. As the borders were closed, the foreign workforce could not arrive to Estonia this year, which meant a loss of a great share of harvest. To motivate the local workforce to accept the available jobs and help the agriculture companies, a wage subsidy in agriculture was established.
The aim of the wage subsidy is to promote the employment of long-term unemployed people in the berry growing field. It is paid to employers who hires (or has hired as of 1 June 2020) a person who is:
The subsidy is paid in the amount of 50% of the employee’s gross wage but not more than €584 (the national minimum wage). It is paid as of the start of the employment relationship until 31 December 2020, but not more than three months per employee. The employment contract can be concluded for a specific term or for an unspecified term.
The measure is implemented by the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund.
It was expected that up to 750 unemployed people would be hired and the total cost would be around €600,000. There is no information available about the actual uptake.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Unemployed
|
Sector specific set of companies
|
Does not apply to citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
Public employment service |
European Funds
National funds |
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | Informed | Informed |
Form | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
The social partners are members of the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund (EUIF) council and are thus involved in the measures where the EUIF has a role to play.
No information.
This case is sector-specific
Economic area | Sector (NACE level 2) |
---|---|
A - Agriculture, Forestry And Fishing | A1 Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities |
This case is occupation-specific
Occupation (ISCO level 2) |
---|
Agricultural, forestry and fishery labourers |
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Wage subsidy in agriculture, case EE-2020-23/1249 (measures in Estonia), COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, http://eurofound.link/covid19eupolicywatch
Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process. All information is preliminary and subject to change.