Work in Estonia survey on the recruitment and needs of international specialists in the industrial sector

Work in Estonia (WiE) is a programme established in 2015 to promote Estonia among international specialists as an attractive destination in which to work and live, support international specialists in settling in Estonia, and increase Estonian employers’ awareness of international recruitment, particularly for positions in information and communications technology (ICT) and the manufacturing sector.

Work in Estonia’s Action Plan for Engaging International Talent 2021–2025 addresses four stages of the international talent, i.e. foreign specialists, journey: attraction, arrival, adaptation, and reputation and departure. WiE’s activities have two main target groups: international specialists, particularly those working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and companies and organisations that recruit international specialists.

According to The Work in Estonia Action Plan 2022–2025, in the future, the number of jobs requiring higher education is expected to increase, while the number of routine jobs is expected to decline. The development of Estonia’s machinery, metal and electronics industries is therefore constrained by a shortage of engineers and other specialists with higher technical education, as well as an insufficient supply of newly qualified professionals. Estonia’s working age population is also declining. Consequently, international labour at specialist level will continue to be needed in the manufacturing sector to compensate for labour shortages.

The present WiE study was designed and commissioned in response to these challenges. Its aim is to develop a better understanding of the readiness of Estonian companies in the machinery, metal and electronics industries to recruit internationally, their actual workforce needs, and the main barriers to engaging foreign specialists. The study therefore seeks to determine employers’ assessments of the feasibility and necessity of recruiting international specialists in these industries.

Based on the study’s findings, Work in Estonia can identify priority areas and activities that could help help with labour shortages by attracting international specialists to the machinery, metal and electronics industries. This would allow to offer better support to Estonian businesses seeking international specialists who generate higher added value, thereby helping to alleviate Estonia’s shortage of qualified labour in ICT and the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. The study explores employers’ opinions on the feasibility and necessity of recruiting international specialists in the machinery, metal and electronics industries and to evaluate the accompanying barriers.

The study seeks to address the following research questions:

1. What is the overall demand for specialists, and how substantial is it?
2. What are the characteristics of companies that have experience of recruiting international specialists and/or intend to recruit them in the near future?
3. What are the characteristics of companies that do not intend to recruit international specialists in the near future?
4. What proportion of companies currently recruit international specialists or plan to do so within the next 12 months?
5. What criteria must international specialists meet?
6. What are the principal problems, barriers and concerns associated with recruiting international specialists?
7. For which positions are international specialists already being recruited?
8. Do companies have the knowledge required to recruit international specialists?
9. What methods do companies currently use, or plan to use, to attract international specialists to work in Estonia?

The study will mainly use quantitative data collection and analysis methods to answer the research questions set out in the brief. Its principal component will be a questionnaire survey of Estonian companies, followed by an analysis of the data collected. Qualitative data-collection methods will also be used, primarily in the form of in-depth interviews with employers.