Statistics Estonia’s application adds transparency to the labour market
The wages and salaries application uses data from the employment register (TÖR) and Estonian tax declaration form TSD annexes 1 and 2. As of the first half of 2019, employers are obligated to enter the job title, workplace location and working hours of employees into the employment register. According to Kaja Sõstra, leading analyst in experimental statistics at Statistics Estonia, the application was developed to give something back to enterprises. “The application allows enterprises to assess the labour market situation and compare wage levels. The quality of the displayed data depends on how accurately enterprises submit data to the employment register and update this information when there are changes,” explained Sõstra.
The application shows median gross wages and salaries that employers paid to registered full-time employees in 2019. Median wage is such that half of the employees in the population under consideration earn less and the other half earn more. “Our aim was to use median wages in the application, as it gives a more precise picture of the labour market compared to average wages, which are usually talked about, “ said Statistics Estonia’s data scientist Kadri Rootalu.
The application is meant for everybody in Estonia. It can be used to compare wages received by employees, or wages paid by enterprises, with the median wages of the group of occupations. The largest target group is, however, enterprises that have entered data in the employment register.
The developers of the application hope that it adds to the transparency and openness of the Estonian labour market. Time dimension will be added as of the second quarter of 2020, which will allow viewing changes in wages and their distribution by quarter. In cooperation with the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner and researchers at the University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology, in autumn, a development will be added to the application, which will make it possible to compare wage data by gender. “The gender pay gap in Estonia is one of the largest in the European Union. One solution to decrease the pay gap is greater transparency and knowledge. If the wages of men and women working in the same occupation are known, women can have fairer salary discussions. Knowledge based on surveys and statistics helps to make informed decisions in recruitment and salary discussions,” said Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner Liisa Pakosta.
The wages and salaries application is available here (only in Estonian).
Common occupations for which wages and salaries data are available in the application are, for example:
shop sales assistants (müüjad); cleaners and helpers in offices, hotels and other establishments (koristajad ja abilised kontoris, hotellis jms asutustes); stationary plant and machine operators (seadme- ja masinaoperaatorid); heavy truck and lorry drivers (veoautojuhid); machinery mechanics and repairers (masinamehaanikud ja -lukksepad); teachers (õpetajad); assemblers (koostajad); commercial sales representatives (müügiesindajad); nurses (õed); wood treaters, cabinet-makers (puidutöötlejad ja tislerid); cooks (kokad); engineers (insenerid); building and repair workers (ehitus- ja remonditöölised); software developers (tarkvaraarendajad); secretaries (sekretärid).