UNEMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION: ESTONIAN LABOUR MARKET ENTRY PATTERN COMPARED TO THE EU COUNTRIES

Ellu Saar

Tallinn Pedagogical University

Abstract. The paper will analyse the differences in the rate of unemployment between labour market entrants and experienced workers, the incidence of unemployment among labour market entrants in the light of individual educational achievement, and how the educational stratification of unemployment varies across the countries. The countries to be compared are Estonia and the EU countries. The starting point for the formulation of the hypotheses is the assumption that labour market institutions and educational systems have an impact on the labour market entry process. Comparing the educational systems as well as labour market institutions in Estonia and in the EU countries, will help us to formulate the hypotheses about labour market entry process in Estonia using the classification results from previous studies. The paper draws upon data from the Estonian Labour Force Survey 2002 as well as from the ELFS 1997 concerning the European Union countries published in Cedefop report. Labour force outcomes were measured as unemployment risks. Following the first description of the phenomenon in different countries we will explore the role of educational achievement. In addition, we will observe both exit from and vulnerability to unemployment.

Keywords: labour market entrants, unemployment, educational system, comparative analysis