The welfare systems of the Baltic states following the recent financial crisis of 2008–2010: expansion or retrenchment?

ABSTRACT

This article aims to uncover major social security system reforms that were implemented following the recent financial and economic crisis of 2008–2010 and the post crisis period. Additionally, it explores the dynamics of the socioeconomic situation during the last 10 years, looking at how Baltic states compare with each other and how they compare with other central and eastern European countries in the EU. The findings show that retrenchment is difficult even during times of crisis. Although the Baltic states were affected by the crisis, especially Latvia and Lithuania, their social security institutions did not experience any structural shift.

KEYWORDS:

• Baltic states
• crisis
• social security
• retrenchment
• welfare state
• pension insurance
• parental leave policies
• unemployment insurance

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Sven Hort and anonymous reviewers for their useful comments. I would also like to acknowledge my four months stay (in 2016) as a Visiting Fellow at the Slavic-Eurasian Research Centre, Hokkaido University, Japan, where the first idea to develop this article was born.

Notes

1. Based on Eurostat (2016).

2. Based on Eurostat (2016).

3. Based on Eurostat (2016).

4. At present, the pension age in Estonia is 63 for both sexes; in Latvia, 62 years and 9 months for both sexes; in Lithuania, 63 years and 4 months for men and 61 years and 8 months for women.

5. Based on Eurostat (2016).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jolanta Aidukaite

Jolanta Aidukaite (PhD in sociology from Stockholm University) is a Chief Researcher at the Lithuanian Social Research Centre. J. Aidukaite has published extensively on the topics of social policy, family policy, housing policy, community mobilization. Examples of her publications include ‘The role of leaders in shaping urban movements: a study of community mobilisation in Lithuania’ (East European Politics, 2016), ‘The Formation of Social Insurance Institutions of the Baltic States in the Post-socialist era’ (Journal of European Social Policy, 2006), ‘Transformation of welfare systems in the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania’ (in Post-Communist Welfare Pathways: Theorizing Social Policy Transformations, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), ‘Welfare Reforms and Socio-economic Trends in the Ten New EU Member States of Central and Eastern Europe’ (Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 2011).