Plant and seedling business Juhani Nursery runs production facilities all over Estonia, and employs some 90 people year round. The company needs 60 more employees for the season ahead, and is using job portals, temp workers as well as word of mouth to find them, ETV news broadcast "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported Thursday.

Plantex AS COO Oliver Kütsen said that they get Ukrainians who will do whatever jobs they can find, but also gardening enthusiasts as well.

"There are a lot of them in Estonia," Kütsen explained. "And then there are the well-established people who come back to us each summer; it's pretty difficult to find actually new people."

While there were more than 56,000 registered unemployed in Estonia as of last month, according to Kütsen, finding workers is highly dependent on the region as well as what sectors people are coming from.

"In Ida-Viru County, finding new workers has indeed gone really well and smoothly, practically without even putting up a job ad," he acknowledged. "But in other areas, nothing's easy."

Located in Tartu County's Nõo Municipality, Eesti Maasika Farm grows berries on 32 hectares of land; at its peak, the farm needs 80 workers. Since the initial COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the farm has pulled through several labor crises. To spread their risks, the farm now seeks workers via several different channels.

"There are Ukrainians, youth brigade members joining us again this summer, there are contracts via [staffing platform] GoWorkaBit and it's possible there will be some temp labor as well to some extent," Eesti Maasika Farm owner Helen Kaskema said.

Kaskema is likewise on the fence about the country's freed up labor, as the majority of these people are from different sectors, and wage expectations and expectations about working conditions differ from what horticulture has to offer.

"I suppose we're living under a fair amount of pressure here, where on one hand there is very strong pressure for wage growth – for how much, then, we can satisfy the wage demands of those folks who have become unemployed," she explained. "On the other, there's pressure on retail prices, i.e. on the prices of our products."

Tourism businesses have begun their search for additional labor too, and are mainly targeting young people and those looking for seasonal work.

The Estonian Road Museum's new season begins April 27, and they need an additional 15-20 people, whom they are seeking via their own channels and campaigns.

"We have a lot of school-aged youth," said Liina Nurmine, visitor services manager at the Põlva County Museum. "Meaning that we primarily prefer those who are at least 18 years old, so either in 11th or 12th grade. And then there are a bunch of people looking specifically for seasonal work."

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