Unemployed may lose allowances

  • 2001-06-28
  • TBT staff
TALLINN - A change in Estonia's welfare law that would temporarily ban benefits to non-citizens from July 12 to Jan. 1, 2002 has sparked protests, the Estonian weekly newspaper Pohjarannik reported.

Under the previous law, non-citizens who have a valid work visa good for up to five years would lose unemployment benefits July 12. A new law adopted in Parliament last week continues unemployment benefits to non-citizens but the law does not take force until Jan. 1, 2002, leaving unemployed workers, most of whom live in Estonia's northeastern region, without benefits for six months.

The gap is likely to hit hardest 1,800 to 2,000 unemployed non-citizens in the northeastern region of Ida-Virumaa.

The Ida-Virumaa labor department sent two letters to the Social Affairs Ministry last year appealing to ministry officials to find a way to maintain benefits despite the law.

The Social Affairs Ministry assured the officials that benefits would continue.

There were 56,590 unemployed people in Estonia last month, according to the National Labor Department. About 4,567 of those lived in Narva, the largest city in northeastern Estonia.