TALLINN — The Estonian Unemployment Fund announced Wednesday that they deleted more than 8,000 people from the unemployment list this year, as those jobless have not attended their monthly check-up.

Meelis Paavel, chairman of the management board at the Unemployment Insurance Fund suggested this may be because many of those have accepted an unofficial job and receive their salary illegally or went to [private_supervisor]work abroad.

Paavel told the media that according to their data most of the people who have not shown up again are young male who live mainly in the cities. They also have little work experience. About 15 percent of the lost jobless are also officially working, according to the tax and customs board, said Paavel.

However, Anne Lauringson, director of the fund’s analysis department said that getting to people who do not turn up have found an “unofficial” job is primarily an assumption, not a fact. The fund does not have any official data on this to show.

“But it’s no secret that the part of shadow economy in Estonia is quite large compared to older EU countries, therefore we do have a reason to believe that many of those who have not shown up are operating in shadow economy,” Lauringson told Baltic Reports.

Lauringson said that  in 2009 there were nearly 2,000 people who initially worked in Estonia but then headed to other countries, but also requested the unemployment compensation, however that is only a small number out of all those people doing this.

Yet, it is impossible for the Unemployment Fund to check if the person is receiving money abroad because only Estonian wages can be checked by the Tax and Customs Board. Once it will come out that the person is already working, he will be deleted from the list. But if the person will get caught by also receiving illegal payments or compensation, then they have to return the money.

The tax and customs board in cooperation with Estonian Institute of Economic Research will release the results of a study on Estonia’s shadow economy 2009 next week. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]work abroad.

Paavel told the media that according to their data most of the people who have not shown up again are young male who live mainly in the cities. They also have little work experience. About 15 percent of the lost jobless are also officially working, according to the tax and customs board, said Paavel.

However, Anne Lauringson, director of the fund’s analysis department said that getting to people who do not turn up have found an “unofficial” job is primarily an assumption, not a fact. The fund does not have any official data on this to show.

“But it’s no secret that the part of shadow economy in Estonia is quite large compared to older EU countries, therefore we do have a reason to believe that many of those who have not shown up are operating in shadow economy,” Lauringson told Baltic Reports.

Lauringson said that in 2009 there were nearly 2,000 people who initially worked in Estonia but then headed to other countries, but also requested the unemployment compensation, however that is only a small number out of all those people doing this.

Yet, it is impossible for the Unemployment Fund to check if the person is receiving money abroad because only Estonian wages can be checked by the Tax and Customs Board. Once it will come out that the person is already working, he will be deleted from the list. But if the person will get caught by also receiving illegal payments or compensation, then they have to return the money.

The tax and customs board in cooperation with Estonian Institute of Economic Research will release the results of a study on Estonia’s shadow economy 2009 next week. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]work abroad.

Paavel told the media that according to their data most of the people who have not shown up again are young male who live mainly in the cities. They also have little work experience. About 15 percent of the lost jobless are also officially working, according to the tax and customs board, said Paavel.

However, Anne Lauringson, director of the fund’s analysis department said that getting to people who do not turn up have found an “unofficial” job is primarily an assumption, not a fact. The fund does not have any official data on this to show.

“But it’s no secret that the part of shadow economy in Estonia is quite large compared to older EU countries, therefore we do have a reason to believe that many of those who have not shown up are operating in shadow economy,” Lauringson told Baltic Reports.

Lauringson said that in 2009 there were nearly 2,000 people who initially worked in Estonia but then headed to other countries, but also requested the unemployment compensation, however that is only a small number out of all those people doing this.

Yet, it is impossible for the Unemployment Fund to check if the person is receiving money abroad because only Estonian wages can be checked by the Tax and Customs Board. Once it will come out that the person is already working, he will be deleted from the list. But if the person will get caught by also receiving illegal payments or compensation, then they have to return the money.

The tax and customs board in cooperation with Estonian Institute of Economic Research will release the results of a study on Estonia’s shadow economy 2009 next week. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]work abroad.

Paavel told the media that according to their data most of the people who have not shown up again are young male who live mainly in the cities. They also have little work experience. About 15 percent of the lost jobless are also officially working, according to the tax and customs board, said Paavel.

However, Anne Lauringson, director of the fund’s analysis department said that getting to people who do not turn up have found an “unofficial” job is primarily an assumption, not a fact. The fund does not have any official data on this to show.

“But it’s no secret that the part of shadow economy in Estonia is quite large compared to older EU countries, therefore we do have a reason to believe that many of those who have not shown up are operating in shadow economy,” Lauringson told Baltic Reports.

Lauringson said that in 2009 there were nearly 2,000 people who initially worked in Estonia but then headed to other countries, but also requested the unemployment compensation, however that is only a small number out of all those people doing this.

Yet, it is impossible for the Unemployment Fund to check if the person is receiving money abroad because only Estonian wages can be checked by the Tax and Customs Board. Once it will come out that the person is already working, he will be deleted from the list. But if the person will get caught by also receiving illegal payments or compensation, then they have to return the money.

The tax and customs board in cooperation with Estonian Institute of Economic Research will release the results of a study on Estonia’s shadow economy 2009 next week. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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