"The government's goal is to increase the presence of public institutions across Estonia and to make the labor market of different regions more diverse," said Minister of Public Administration Mihhail Korb. "Currently we are used to primarily those public officials offering firsthand services to residents being located outside of Tallinn. The development of technology and e-services makes it possible for so-called backroom officials to work and live anywhere they want in Estonia."

Thursday's discussion primarily focused on central government institutions where some 55,000 people worked last year, 45 percent of whom worked in Tallinn. It will be primarily those jobs that are not location-dependent which will be moved. No constitutional institutions, ministries or institutions offering services to the residents of Tallinn or neighboring counties would be relocated. An analysis taking the bigger picture into account was conducted within the framework of the analysis of the state's tasks in 2016.

"Three important aspects were considered when drawing up the plan: the quality of public services should not decrease, the cost of rearrangements must be reasonable and there need to be preconditions for finding necessary employees in a region," explained the minister.

State real estate management company Riigi Kinnisvara AS (RKAS) will first map and analyze together with each ministry the real estate possibilities in county seats and cities of every region, taking into account the necessary conditions for job creation. RKAS will thereafter submit a proposal to place jobs in a region in such a way that it would minimize hindrances to the operations of tthese institutions. After that, the next step will be to attempt to house different public institutions in a single building in order to create synergy. Following this, institutions will begin preparing to relocate jobs, a process which is planned to be completed by 2019.

At the Cabinet meeting, ministers pointed out the need to analyze the potential of creating remote jobs as well.

The Ministry of Finance is to analyze together with relevant ministries the possibility of moving state companies and foundations out of Tallinn. Results of the analyses are to be presented to the Cabinet this fall.