More job cuts in store for Ida-Viru County
There has lately been much talk about mass redundancies at the northeast Estonia based shale oil producer Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG), but extensive lay-offs are planned by other companies of Ida-Viru County as well.
According to data of the Ida-Viru division of the Estonian Trade Union Confederation (EAKL), at least 163 people more are about to lose their jobs in the first half of this year and the figure is not final.
In February the municipal bus company Narva Bussiveod will cease operations, making 76 people redundant. Due to the completion of the Auvere power plant of the state-owned energy group Eesti Energia, the energy engineering company GE Alstom Estonia will reduce its workforce, letting go 19 workers in February and another 68 in May. According to the union, 223 of the company's 399 employees will be laid off in 2017, leaving it with a staff of just 176. The state-owned postal company Omniva also plans to reduce its workforce in Ida-Viru County in the summer.
The rate of unemployment in Ida-Viru County was 10.1 percent in December.