Vol 1, No 2 (2013)

Unregistered Production and Employment in Estonia: Measurements and Developments

Jaanika Meriküll, Karsten Staehr

Abstract

This paper present data on unreported production and employment in Estonia, tracks developments over time and compares Estonia with other countries. According to official exhaustiveness calculations, unreported GDP amounted to around 4% of “true” or total GDP in 2012, having declined since 1995. Studies based on various indicator variables and surveys of the perceptions of business managers provide estimates for unreported GDP of 14-24% of true GDP in 2007-2012. Survey evidence suggests that informal employment has declined over time; in 2012 around 10-12% of the active people surveyed stated that they had undertaken unreported employment within the past year. This estimate is likely to be a lower bound and other studies provide somewhat different results. The extent of unreported activities in Estonia appears to be smaller than in many other EU countries from central and eastern Europe. Events such as the Russian crisis, the prolonged boom from 2000 to 2007 and the global financial crisis do not appear to have had a discernible impact on unregistered activities in Estonia.

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Keywords

Shadow economy; Unreported production; Unreported employment; Transition; Global financial crisis

Publication information

Volume 1, Issue 2
Year of Publication: 2013
ISSN: 1857 - 8721
Publisher: EDNOTERA

How to cite

Meriküll J., Staehr K.: Unregistered Production and Employment in Estonia: Measurements and Developments. Journal of Applied Economics and Business, Vol 1, No. 2, 23-34. (2013)