The Paradox of National Language Acquisition: Russian Speakers’ Labor Market Positions in Estonia

Abstract

This paper analyzes the changes in the labor market positions of Soviet-era Russian-speaking immigrants and their descendants in Estonia in 1992–2008. More specifically, it explains how the knowledge of Estonian connects with evaluations of changes of market positions. The Estonian case shows that the language policy intervention undertaken in the context of a fundamental transformation of the market structure in the 1990s paradoxically yielded results contrary to the objectives pursued by the language policy. As it turns out, a segregation strategy is successful in terms of market position maintenance or improvement, whereas acculturation strategy (learning Estonian) worsens rather than improves job opportunities.

Keywords:

• first- and second-generation immigrants
• labor market mobility
• Estonia
• Russians
• language skills

Notes

1. In addition, we carried a correlation analysis between different language-related variables and labor market trajectories. The results confirmed our previous findings: knowledge of local (Estonian) language and labor market trajectory are negatively correlated, it means, the lower is the knowledge of language, the higher is the trajectory. Similarly act the language of attained education and language used at workplace – if it is Russian, the trajectory is higher.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Center of Excellence CECT) and institutional research funding IUT (20-38) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies offered an excellent environment for improving this article.

Notes on contributors

Marianne Leppik

Marianne Leppik, M.A., is a doctoral student at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Tartu. Her research focuses on (new-wave) immigrants, their adaptation, media practices, and identity changes.

Triin Vihalemm

Triin Vihalemm, Ph.D., is a professor of communication research in the Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu. She earned her Ph.D. in 1999 with a dissertation discussing the prospects of the formation of collective identity among the Russian-speaking population in Estonia. She has studied the sociology of ethnic relations, language policy and language practices, and collective identities and published extensively on these subjects, as well as supervising related Ph.D. and master’s theses. Professor Vihalemm has led research projects on national and ethnic identities, the policies shaping them, and served as study group leader and expert of the Estonian integration research and development projects.