SAK (18.08.2004) Almost one in two (45 per cent) working age Estonians are willing to work abroad. Roughly the same proportion (47 per cent) would primarily like to work in Estonia. These were two of the major findings in an opinion survey conducted by TNS Gallup and published by SAK on the eve of Estonian accession to the European Union in May. 1,009 Estonians were interviewed for the survey in February 2004.
More than a quarter (27 per cent) of Estonians would be prepared to work illegally in Finland. This figure was clearly lower than the 35 per cent recorded in a 2002 survey. Over the same period willingness to work without redundancy protection fell from 23 per cent to 16 per cent.
A majority (56 per cent) said that Estonians must be paid at the same level as Finns in the Finnish labour market. However, 27 per cent would be satisfied with pay below the Finnish standard.
Expectations of the local trade union movement run high in Estonia. Almost every respondent (94 per cent) thinks that there should be a strong trade union movement capable of engaging in collective bargaining. Support for this view gained ten percentage points over the period 1998-2004. As for collective bargaining and agreements, Estonians are nearly unanimous (90 per cent) that their country should seek its mentor and model from the Nordic countries.
A large majority (91 per cent) are of the opinion that the Estonian trade union movement must prevent Estonia from becoming a cheap labour country within the EU. More than half (56 per cent) of the respondents consider it at least “rather likely” that EU membership will strengthen the position of the trade union movement in Estonia.
A clear majority (75 per cent) consider it unlikely that pay levels in Estonia will reach those of other EU Member States. The proportion believing in a narrowing pay gap is decreasing, and a majority (67 per cent) think that social and economic inequality will worsen. At the same time 45 per cent believe that the level of social security provision will rise as a consequence of EU membership. Only 36 per cent of respondents think that the employment situation will improve.
Of all EU citizens, it is the Estonians who feel the strongest attraction to the Finnish labour market*. Over a quarter (28 per cent) are at least “rather willing” to work in Finland, and 8 per cent of the respondents are “very willing”. Among those who consider it likely that they will work in Finland the most popular sectors are construction (16 per cent), commerce (15 per cent) and other service occupations (15 per cent). Experts with higher education prefer host countries other than Finland. Germany is their country of choice, but several others are also listed before Finland.
The survey suggests that some 50,000 Estonians have worked in Finland either legally or illegally. About 30,000 have had an illegal job. One-third of the respondents (32 per cent) have a relative or an acquaintance who has legally worked in Finland. One-sixth (16 per cent) of them know somebody who has worked in Finland illegally.
*Comment by Daryl Taylor - International readers should note two important factors at this point: (1) the geographical proximity of Finland and Estonia, and (2) the similarity of the Estonian and Finnish languages, both of which differ very considerably from languages spoken elsewhere in the EU. Many Estonians in the north of their country were able to receive and understand Finnish terrestrial television broadcasts during the Soviet era.