TALLINN - According to Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, social jobs that are created and sponsored by the state would undermine market competition. The prime minister claims that these social jobs won't be productive, as they can violate the "market situation."
The prime minister was speaking in reference to Tallinn's Economic Recession Assistance Package, approved on April 16, which aims to help both unemployed individuals and businesses in the capital city. Under the plan, 1,000 minimum-wage jobs are being created in municipal companies.
Ansip says that the European Commission as well as other international institutions also do not support creating jobs in this manner. The Tallinn city government counters, however, that the plan will keep the unemployed from falling into poverty and destitution.
According to the Tallinn officials, under the plan, private companies are to create the social jobs and deal with productivity and contractual issues.
The residential and entrepreneurial aid package, developed by the municipality, focuses on six specific areas, which are: alleviating unemployment, handing out benefits and social aid, counseling people facing hardships, decreasing costs for heating, supporting entrepreneurship and protecting consumers. The plan also offers entrepreneurs and residents who are experiencing hardship an array of 42 support measures.
According to Tallinn Deputy Mayor Jaanus Mutli, "Grants for the creation of social jobs are a completely new city support measure, the objective of which is to create jobs for unemployed Tallinn residents within the framework of the Tallinn City assistance package." He explains that "The grants help businesspeople to create social jobs for registered unemployed people, in order to prevent long-term unemployment during the economic depression and to improve the employment situation in the capital."
New job creation grants will be provided by the City Enterprise Board with the goal of supporting and developing small businesses in Tallinn. Jobs are intended to be for citizens officially residing in Tallinn and registered as unemployed at the Labor Market Board.
Social jobs include cleaning public transport vehicles and tram tracks, selling and checking tickets in public transport, cleaning of roads and sidewalks, maintaining municipal parks and other similar jobs.
According to Ansip, it would be better to retrain and educate those who have lost their jobs and have low qualifications, as he considers there isn't much use for these social jobs created by the state.
