Analyst: Economic slowdown not affecting Estonia's labor market

Service sector companies are struggling to find workers as, despite the weakening economic situation, Estonia's employment rate is high. Firms offering salaries of between €700 and €1,200 are experiencing the most problems.
Supermarket chain Rimi has 100 vacancies across Estonia but posting an advert online and waiting for replies is no longer enough to find new employees. The majority of roles are in customer service.
Jaanika Raudam, Rimi's HR manager, said: "Jobseekers are no longer looking on traditional job portals, they are more active on social media or they expect employers to contact them directly. It is not uncommon for people to say in an interview that they updated their CV and were waiting to see who would contact them."
Ave Kruusalu, human resources manager of the electronics store chain Euronics, said the company had no vacancies at the start of the year but currently has 13. Trends suggest young people prefer to work in an office rather than on the shop floor.
"For example, more than 130 candidates applied for the social media specialist position. Perhaps this shows that people think that social media is something that everyone can do, and actually, a good number of young people are doing it every day," she said.

While the Estonian economy is declining, and redundancies have been made in several sectors, unemployment is still low.
"The labor market has been doing very well — the number of people in work in Estonia, according to the latest figures, is still an all-time record [high]," said SEB Bank's economic analyst Mihkel Nestor.
"The employment rate is almost 70 percent. It is very difficult to find people in this environment. It is fair to say that everyone who wants to work has found a job today, and this economic slowdown has not yet really started to make itself felt in the labor market," he said.
Nestor said it's currently a job seeker's market.
"I think there is the best chance in a long time for an employee to negotiate a good salary," the analyst said.
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Editor: Merili Nael, Helen Wright
Source: Aktuaalne kaamera