Survey: Russian-speakers fluent in Estonian more likely to work as managers than Estonians
The ratio of Russian-speakers proficient in Estonian woking in a managerial or specialist position was higher in Estonia in 2015 than the ratio of people working in such positions among ethnic Estonians, it appears from the results of a survey presented by Statistics Estonia on Wednesday.
"The analysis indicated that, on average, Estonians were still in better labor market positions compared to non-Estonians," said Siim Krusell, author of the report titled "Ethnic Gaps in the Labor Market and the Effects of the Economic Crisis." "However, the results varied when non-Estonians were grouped by their level of proficiency in Estonian. Non-Estonians with good proficiency in the Estonian language were in an equal or even slightly better position in terms of unemployment risks and distribution of employment positions both before and after the economic crisis."
Before the crisis, in 2007, the percentage of managers or professionals was highest among Estonians and non-Estonians with good proficiency in Estonian, with every third employed person in this group holding such a position. Managers and professionals constituted 15 percent of employed non-Estonians with intermediate proficiency in Estonian and only ten percent of non-Estonians with no proficiency in 2007. By 2010, when the unemployment level peaked, the share of persons employed as managers or professionals had increased in all groups except for that of non-Estonians with no proficiency in Estonian.
By 2015, the share of managers and professionals had increased in all groups compared to 2007. While the increase was relatively small among non-Estonians with intermediate or no proficiency in Estonian during the period under observation, it was quite significant among Estonians and non-Estonians with good language proficiency. The percentage of managers and professionals in 2015 was even slightly higher among non-Estonians with good language proficiency than among Estonians, the analysis found.
The survey, published in statistical publication "Social Trends," used the data from the Estonian Labor Force Survey from 2007 to 2015 to compare the labor market position of the following groups identified on the basis of ethnic origin and/or language proficiency: Estonians, non-Estonians with good proficiency in Estonian, non-Estonians with intermediate proficiency in Estonian and non-Estonians with no proficiency in Estonian.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS