Young people who enter compulsory military service immediately after finishing school may be surprised to learn that after completing their service they will have to rely on someone else’s financial support, as the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund will no longer pay them benefits, reports the portal „err.ee“. An exception applies only if the person worked enough while still studying at school.
Previously, both school graduates and young people who completed military service had the right to receive unemployment benefits, but this form of support was abolished at the beginning of this year. Now the payment depends on the person’s previous work activity, said Kirsti Melesk, a representative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.
“As with any other type of insurance, the system works so that a person gains the right to benefits if they have paid contributions into the insurance system and then an insured event occurs. In the case of unemployment insurance, this means becoming unemployed. This principle can be compared to housing or vehicle insurance: if a person has never paid insurance premiums, they cannot claim insurance benefits when an insured event occurs. The purpose of unemployment insurance benefits is to partially compensate for previously earned income during the period when the person is looking for work, rather than directly guaranteeing income to everyone who is unemployed, including those who previously had no such income,” she said.
According to her, conscripts are in the same position as school graduates who also have no previous work experience when they start looking for a job after graduation and have to manage without state financial support. However, young people can register as unemployed and use services designed to help them find work.
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“At the moment, we have no plans to set any exceptions for conscripts. Instead, we believe it is important to support young people in finding work, help them gain their first work experience, and establish themselves in the labor market,” said K. Melesk.
However, in certain cases, school graduates may still be entitled to receive unemployment insurance benefits if they managed to work while studying at school. To obtain this right, they must have worked at least eight months in the past three years, at least one day in each of those months.
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