This report was prepared by Anne Lauringson and Marius Lüske in the OECD’s Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, under the supervision of Theodora Xenogiani (project leader). Chapter 3 was prepared based on a legal analysis conducted by Gaabriel Tavits and Rein Murakas (University of Tartu). Jonathan Stöterau provided inputs to Chapter 2 of the report. Statistical assistance was provided by Dana Blumin and editorial assistance was provided by Lucy Hulett, Katerina Kodlova and Monica Meza-Essid.
The report was produced as part of the project “Improving the provision of active labour market policies in Estonia” which was carried out with funding by the European Union via the Structural Reform Support Programme and in co‑operation with the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Structural Reform Support, formerly the Structural Reform Support Service (Contract number SRSS/S2019/036). The co‑operation with Kristi Suur, Sten Andreas Ehrlich and Brit Rammul from the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs and Marko Bucik from the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Structural Reform Support has been instrumental for the project and the report.
Large parts of the report are based on information and assessments received from stakeholders of the ALMP system in Estonia that the OECD team and European Commission met during two fact-finding missions in October 2019 and February 2020, and online learning events organised in September and December 2020. These included representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities, Centar, Eesti Pank, the Estonian Chamber of Disabled People, the Estonian Employees’ Unions’ Confederation, the Estonian Employers’ Confederation, the Estonian Trade Union Confederation, the Estonian Qualifications Authority, the Health Insurance Fund, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Statistics Estonia and Tallinn University, Minister of Health and Labour Tanel Kiik,as well as former Ministers Riina Sikkut and Eiki Nestor. The report also benefited greatly from the contributions by international experts from Austria, Denmark, Germany and Slovenia who participated in the learning events (Martine Breedveld, Julian Hiebl, Andrea Kröning, Marko Lemaić, Wolfgang Nörenberg, Gissur Pétursson, Damjana Šarčevič, Unnur Sverrisdóttir and Brigita Vončina).
The report benefited enormously from the collection and sharing of administrative data by the Health Insurance Fund, local municipalities, the National Institute for Health Development, the Social Insurance Board, Statistics Estonia and the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The support of Statistics Estonia (notably Kaja Sõstra) in hosting the linked administrative data was instrumental for the successful completion of the work.
Comments on earlier versions of the report were provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Ministry of Education, Marko Bucik (European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support) and Sirje Soone (Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) as well as by Mark Keese, Stefano Scarpetta, Kristine Langenbucher, Stewart Butler and Matija Vodopivec at the OECD.
The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.