Estonian IT Sector Requires 7000 Workers from Abroad in the Coming Years

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Fatos Bytyqi / Unsplash

In the coming years, there will be a shortage of approximately 7000 workers in the Estonian IT sector that neither the education system nor business training will be able to resolve. 

The issue is already visible in the sector, with IT companies trying to lure potential employees from other Estonian companies in order to fill vacancies. A tactic that is not sustainable, and why workers from abroad will be needed to fill this gap.

Although startups in Estonia with 10 employees or less have an exemption on the amount of foreign workers they can employ, beyond this, restrictions apply. This makes it much harder for bigger startups like Pipedrive, Bolt and Transferwise to hire internationally, worsening the problem. 

According to Andres Sutt, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, “The aim is to find solutions to the growth constraints of businesses, to make their lives easier, so that both our own people and those skilled workers who cannot be found here in sufficient numbers can see Estonia as a country with an attractive and high-quality living environment” 

He went on to state “It is wrong to think that there’s a queue at our door of people who want to work in Estonia. We are competing with our neighbours and other countries of the European Union, as well as with America and Asia”

Estonia’s aging population also means that in 5 years time, there will be 32,000 fewer working-age people, creating shortages in many other sectors in the coming years. 

Source: ERR 

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