Jobless press city for work

TALLINN - Over 5,000 people showed up on Feb. 16 to the ‘Job Bourse’ which was organized by the city of Tallinn, taking place in “Lauluvaljak”(Song Festival Grounds). The event was organized for the unemployed and attracted those seeking city-subsidized jobs. The city offered nearly 400 so-called social jobs, i.e. low paid jobs created especially by the city with the purpose of easing unemployment in the city.
City of Tallinn’s entrepreneurship department head, Kairi Teniste, said that she didn’t foresee such large crowds arriving for the event.

“I have been waiting in line for more than six hours to get to the building to fill in the application. It’s very cold to wait outside, but we have no other choice; we hope to get any kind of job,” said Tatjana Tsvetkova, a 29-year old citizen.
“I came here at 6:00 in the morning. I thought I would be the first to enter the building, but I was shocked to see so many people already waiting here. The situation with the unemployment is really horrible, people do not even hope to get any job, but still, this is one more chance to try,” said 48-year-old Andrei  Semjonov.
“I have a college education but I have lost my job recently, and I am ready to do any kind of job now to help my family survive these hard times,” said Kristi Arno, a 37-year-old job seeker. “We were told to fill in the application, and then they are going to choose the best applicants and let us know the results.”

The jobs offered by the city include travel attendants and cleaners in public transport, as well as jobs in the social welfare and city space maintenance areas. City authorities have promised to offer 2,500 jobs for the unemployed this year. The city is also planning to open new job placements in the autumn.
“I only survive thanks to savings that I have collected for years,” says Mare Varendi, a 47-year-old accountant who lost her job in December 2008. Varendi said she had applied for dozens of jobs, including low-paid secretarial work, but saw the situation as hopeless because there are sometimes a hundred other applicants.
A recent poll found that 68 percent of Estonians regard unemployment as the biggest problem the nation now faces. “The only thing that keeps my spirit up is the hope that the crisis will be over in a few years, and people like me will be needed by society again,” Varendi added.

Analyst Hardo Pajula, at SEB in Tallinn, said it is time for Estonia to wake up. “The biggest problem for Estonia - really the biggest - is unemployment and the threat that it might turn into increasing political dissatisfaction,” he said.
Ex-premier and leader of a junior party in Ansip’s two-way coalition, Mart Laar, has been a rarity in the government camp in warning that unemployment is a major threat. At a recent party congress, Laar said the coalition will only hold onto power until the 2011 general election if it can stem unemployment this year.
Finance Ministry spokeswoman Kristi Joesaar contested claims that the government was sitting on its hands on the issue. “Financial support for active measures to increase employment has been doubled in this year’s budget, compared to 2009,” Joesaar said.

She noted that the ministry had just drafted legislation that would, for one year, cut the taxes of firms hiring the long-term unemployed into part-time jobs.
“I would like to stay in Estonia, but at the moment I plan to leave to work in the United States,” said Kairi Soosaar, 25, who is about to graduate in media studies. “Many of my friends have already left to work abroad. I hope to return one day, but who knows what life will bring,” she added.

Accoding to Statistics Estonia, the unemployment rate continued to climb this week, reaching 14.5 percent, with 94,129 people registered as unemployed as of Feb. 18. In the latest week, 2,518 new unemployed were registered.
Registered unemployment is highest in Ida-Virumaa, at 20.6 percent and lowest in Jogevamaa, with 9.8 percent out of work. The Finance Ministry has said that it expects unemployment to reach a maximum of 14.8 percent of the working population this year.