Share of population reporting good health

ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OECD ECONOMIC SURVEYS: ESTONIA © OECD 2017 32 health and security regulation should be strengthened, for instance by increasing the level of fines imposed for breaches of the regulations from current low levels OECD, 2010b. An occupational accident and disease insurance system that would strengthen the liability of employers and thereby incentives for investment in health and work safety has been on the policy agenda of many past governments. It should be introduced and include experience rating of firms i.e. basing insurance cost on amount andor number of claims made in previous years that, be it part of public or private scheme, has brought positive results for instance in the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium OECD, 2010b; European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, 2017. Making education more inclusive Estonia outperformed the rest of Europe in the OECD’s latest PISA survey. In 2015, Estonia achieved high levels of both performance and equity in education. Coverage of pre- primary education and tertiary education attainment are high. At the secondary level, performance of students in reading, mathematics and science is among the best, and students’ socio-economic background has a smaller impact on performance than in other OECD countries. But there is still some room to make the education system more inclusive. A recent OECD review identifies policy priorities to improve equity in the Estonian school system, including targeting extra resources on students with special education needs and Russian-speaking students, notably by addressing shortages of Estonian language teachers in Russian schools Santiago et al., 2016. These resources could be drawn from a further consolidation of the school network. Integration of the Russian-speaking minority in the labour market remains a challenge, in particular in eastern regions of the country where redundancies in the chemical and oil shale industries further deepened the unemployment gap in 2016. The unemployment rate of the Russian-speaking minority around 25 of total population, was 3 percentage points higher than that of other Estonians. While this is party linked to regional economic disparities, a whole-of-government approach is needed to tackle the multidimensional obstacles encountered by this minority, including limited Estonian language skills, choices regarding education, and weaker social contacts and networks. Particular attention should be paid to Estonian and English proficiency, which are found to improve labour market outcomes but are poor among Russian speakers Ministry of Education and Research, 2015. Table 6. Past recommendations for reducing poverty Main recommendations from previous Surveys Action taken since the 2015 Survey Increase spending on active labour market policy, and better target spending, while ensuring stronger co-operation among local governments, education institutions and the Unemployment Insurance Fund. Spending on active labour market policy is set to more than double between 2015 and 2017 due to the implementation of the Work Ability reform and the introduction of preventive measures for workers at risk of unemployment. Refocus the social protection system on activation and return to work, underpinned by stronger inter-agency co-operation. All working-age people with some capacity to work should become clients of unemployment insurance fund offices and be encouraged to participate in job search and activation. A reform of disability benefits, the Work Ability reform, is being implemented, strengthening the assessment of capacity to work and tying the receipt of benefits to the obligation to participate in activation programmes. Target benefits to provide sufficient help for those in greatest need. No action taken. Strengthen health spending efficiency, promote healthy lifestyles and improve access for disadvantaged groups. EHealth services e-consultations and e-referrals, and a central e-registration system are being developed. The building of primary healthcare centres with teams of specialists in 2016 has started to reduce pressure on hospitals. Dental care are partly reimbursed since July 2017.