Eesti in brief - 2010-09-08

Estonians have lost interest in going to work in Ireland and are showing increased interest towards Nordic states, Spain and Italy, reports Delfi. Labor markets in Germany and Austria will open up for Estonians on May 1 next year. “People have explicit plans for going,” said European job-seeking office Eures’ chief Marta Traks. Thus people are now inquiring about taxation and rights in the target country, rather than showing just general interest. “Young people are looking for challenges.” said Traks. People who have problems servicing their loans are also looking for better opportunities. In Estonia 37 percent of young people are jobless. According to a human resources report published in July, a tenth of Estonian residents have left to work or live abroad.

The European Commission allocated to Estonia 5.8 billion kroons’ (371.7 million euros) worth of structural funds for the first program period from 2004-2006, of which 99.2 percent was used, reports Delfi. The projects, financed by the European Social Fund, European Regional Development Fund, European Agriculture Development and Guarantee Fund’s development section and European Fisheries Replacement Financing Fund were implemented by June 30, 2009, but for a year after that, post-program activities took place and reports were compiled. The main achievements of the implementation of the 2004-2006 period structural funds are 13,710 new jobs, supporting of 1,886 companies and building and repairing 95 km of roads.