Businesses: the state is doing the right thing with labour migration
The Estonian Employers’ Confederation, the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and 10 business associations support the amendments to the Aliens Act, which would help alleviate labour shortages, create new jobs, and improve the competitiveness of the economy, while at the same time maintaining strict control over labour migration.
Ahead of the second reading, businesses sent a statement of support to the Constitutional Committee of the Riigikogu for the planned amendments to the Aliens Act, which would create an exception for recruiting skilled workers in sectors where it has not been possible to find employees in Estonia.
Ain Käpp, member of the council of the Estonian Employers’ Confederation and head of its labour market working group, explained that in public debate labour migration and mass immigration are often confused, sometimes maliciously so. “Labour migrants bring new knowledge and skills into the country, help create new jobs, and increase both state tax revenues and overall welfare,” Käpp explained. “In addition, labour migration is temporary and controlled, because only sectors suffering from labour shortages can use the exception, and a salary requirement has been established that rules out an inflow of cheap labour.”
Mait Palts, Director General of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, emphasized that for companies to have a competitive and successful future, it is necessary to let go of fears rooted in the past and make smart decisions based on real conditions rather than wishful thinking. “We know fairly precisely what kind of labour we are lacking. Now we need to pull ourselves together and decide how to alleviate shortages that cannot be filled from within Estonia. The draft amendment to the Aliens Act is a major and necessary step forward on that path,” said Palts. In his view, it is also time to acknowledge and understand that without a smartly managed immigration policy, it will not be possible to maintain our current level of prosperity in the future.
OSKA: Estonia’s economy needs foreign workers
According to OSKA’s study on foreign workers, which analyses the Estonian labour market, the inclusion of foreign workers is partly unavoidable. Even if the state uses all internal options to address labour shortages, such as better inclusion of people who are currently not working, raising the skills and qualification levels of local people, and companies increasing productivity, this will not offset the labour shortage caused by the low birth rate in various sectors such as industry, construction, logistics, and others.
In addition, due to population ageing and a declining birth rate, Estonia’s labour market is short by 1,400 top specialists and 700 skilled workers every year.
BACKGROUND: Exception for skilled workers in sectors with labour shortages
The draft law would allow the recruitment of up to 1,300 additional skilled workers from third countries outside the immigration quota, and up to 2,600 in conditions of economic growth.
The exception could be used by sectors facing labour shortages, which would be determined on the basis of OSKA studies by Kutsekoda. In addition to researchers, OSKA’s work also involves the state and labour market stakeholders — employers and trade unions.
The draft law sets an obligation to pay a skilled worker at least 0.8 times the Estonian average salary, which corresponds to the wage level of several categories of skilled workers in Estonia, such as equipment and machine operators, and exceeds the pay of unskilled workers by one third. Therefore, fears of an inflow of cheap labour are unfounded.
Estonia already has similar exceptions for recruiting workers, and these have been used, for example, by startup entrepreneurs, ICT workers, top specialists, major investors, and employees of startup and growth companies.
The statement was also joined by the Estonian Traders Association, the Estonian Hotel and Restaurant Association, the Estonian Security Companies Association, the Estonian Association of Infrastructure Construction, the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the Estonian Shipowners’ Association, the Estonian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs, the Estonian Mining Industry Enterprises Association, the Estonian Printing and Packaging Industry Association, and the Association of Estonian Motor Vehicle Enterprises.