Estonia: a reform of the employment of disabled persons to combat the workforce shortage

The government approved the draft employment reform in favor of disabled persons on June 12. It is the result of a 2-year survey and of discussions between experts and associations. Requested by the European Commission, it is an answer to a structural manpower need. However, unions are worried and say the provisions are rushed.
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A reform encouraging disabled people to join the labor market. There are approximately 100,000 disabled people and about 50 percent of them don’t earn a professional income. Besides, the number of people receiving a disability pension allegedly more than doubled since 2000, which the government says is inacceptable. Meanwhile, Estonia is having a hard time recruiting unskilled workers. In February 2014, Ahti Kuningas, deputy Minister for Economic Affairs, said that it was time to think about fi

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