The paper compiled on the initiative of the Strategy Unit and the EU Secretariat of the Government Office sees diminishing workforce as the largest problem in Estonia.
"This is primarily a paper for policy designers," said Märt Loite, Deputy Strategy Director of the Government Office, who was in charge of compiling the mid-term report.
In 2015, the "Estonia 2020" competitiveness plan will reach the midway point of its implementation. "We have compiled a mid-term summary of the results and presented our recommendations for improving the plans," Loite said. "This is an assessment of the situation by the Strategy Unit and the EU Secretariat of the Government Office as well as a collection of development ideas for Estonia's EU policy level," Loite added. "The proposals gathered at wide-based discussions with ministries and non-government partners are an input to the updating of the strategy documents."
The mid-term report shows that the number of people on the employment market of the 20-64 age group will decrease by 44,000 in the next five years, according to predictions. Large-scale reforms in work capacity and the educational systems are already underway. "Therefore, we require an increase in skills to achieve work capacity related objectives and at least retain the workforce numbers we have today; people who have so far been out of the employment market should be brought into it – young people, the elderly, disabled people as well as people with a burden of care, and favourable conditions have to be created for additional workforce coming into Estonia," Loite said.
One of the proposals in the mid-term report is to use programmes that would make it possible to train a critical number of specialists for the sectors in which they are most needed in a short time, e.g. 18 months. Also, it should be possible to forestall structural changes in the economy and to offer employment market services to people who are at a higher risk of losing their employment.
The paper also proposes that the public funding model of research and development institutions and universities should focus more on supporting applied research and the transfer of technology, and that businesses should be more involved in the topic selection, compilation and defending process of doctoral theses.
In developing the local capital market and business environment, work towards abolishing inter-country limitations and the increasing of networking should continue.
"Estonia 2020" is a central state strategy for improving competitiveness that focuses on attaining higher productivity and employment levels.
Additional information: Deputy Strategy Director of the Government Office Märt Loite, 693 5622, [email protected]