Editorial: hiring people with reduced work capacity is step in right direction

Photo: azbigmedia.com

Unavoidably, Estonia's working age population is graying and shrinking. Some predictions say we will have a whopping 160,000 people less on labour market in just one generation. 

Like our Baltic neighbours, Estonia is in a lengthy human resources crisis. Therefore, it is vitally important to handle the available human capital right. Thus, highly commendable the governmental initiative to hire a thousand people with reduced work capacity in public sector by 2020 within the ongoing work capacity reform. 

The words «reduced work capacity» cover all kinds of health damage, not just mobility disability. Statistics say Estonia has close to 100,000 work incapacity pensioners. Of those, close to two thirds are not working.  

With total work incapacity, the pension is €337, and €192 with the partial one. This is not much and regrettably will lead to poverty.  

Many would like to keep on fighting, thus recommendable the initiative to occupy thousands in the public sector where 10,000 are already employed.

Whether the quotas prescribed to employers will yield the best of results, is naturally arguable. In many a nation, this has led to trickery and therefore quotas are intentionally shunned by lots of governments.