Bridge to security: Exploring unemployment insurance for solo self-employed in Estonia.

The article examines the challenges and current state of unemployment insurance for solo self-employed individuals, including platform workers, in Estonia. It highlights that Estonia’s social security and unemployment insurance systems are primarily designed for standard employment relationships, resulting in limited and uneven access to unemployment protection for the self-employed, whose legal statuses and tax obligations vary widely. Platform workers, often classified as self-employed but with dependent work conditions, face particular difficulties due to irregular income and restrictive platform-imposed legal forms. Recent policy discussions and reforms in Estonia aim to extend unemployment insurance coverage to more categories of self-employed individuals, but structural barriers related to income irregularity, legal form diversity, and eligibility criteria remain. The article underscores the need for comprehensive reforms to create equitable social protection that reflects the evolving nature of solo self-employment and platform work in Estonia’s labour market.