ABSTRACT
Introduction: the complicated situation in the Estonian labor market Emigration is drastically reshaping the Estonian labor market, since numerous skilled laborers are leaving their home country thus making it difficult for firms to maintain their skills base. This loss of employees is seen in migration statistics. As a proportion of the home country labor force, around five percent have settled abroad (Tirpak 2007). If non-citizens (i.e., those of Russian origin for whom mobility presents additional difficulties) are removed from the equation, the emigration rate increases by a quarter (Hazans and Philips 2011: 8). According to Hazans and Philips, if posted workers are taken into account as well, it follows that during 2004-7 Estonia sent abroad more employees than Latvia, another Baltic country that has experienced mass emigration during the crisis.
