Arvo Kuddo

Senior labour economist, World Bank

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  • Business Environment and Labour Relations *

    18 December 2006

    Studies

    RiTo No. 14, 2006

    Despite impressive economic growth rates (since 1994, GDP has doubled in real terms), and like many other transition economies, for many years Estonia has experienced jobless or even job loss growth. Employment declined between 1994 and 2005 from 675,000 to 602,000. This job loss partly reflects closure of many enterprises, as well as “defensive restructuring” by enterprises, a process in which redundant labour is shed in order to increase productivity, the gains from which are then translated into higher wages rather than higher employment.
    *The views expressed in this article reflect the personal opinions of the author, and may not coincide with the official positions of the World Bank.

  • Fighting Poverty with Social Policy

    19 December 2001

    Studies

    RiTo No. 4, 2001

    A great proportion of the state's social benefits, including welfare, are paid to families that are not poor. Of the financial means allocated for ensuring the coping threshold, 62.3% is spent on supporting non-poor families. In the case of child or unemployment benefits, it is actually not the aim that these should reach only poor families. But unemployment benefits turned out to be directed most of all towards the poor - nearly half was received by the families living below poverty level.

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