Analytics, Financial Services, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Wages

CV-Online Latvia head Aivis Brodins notes that employees in the IT sector still receive the highest salaries among all qualified specialists in Latvia, particularly senior programmers and system architects whose salaries often exceed those earned by medium- and top-tier managers.

According to the study, the highest overall monthly net salaries in Latvia are paid in such business sectors as IT, finance, pharmaceutical industry, and the lowest – in education, healthcare, and public catering. The difference may be as broad as 55%.

Comparatively high salaries are also paid to financial supervisors, chief accountants, construction project managers, construction engineers, customer managers, product managers. At the other end of the spectrum are nurses, teachers, waiters, security guards, rescuers, salespersons, and blue collar workers, said Brodins.

Besides bonuses, the most popular fringe benefits include beverages (tea, coffee, mineral water), health insurance, informal events organized by the employer, mobile phone bills and Internet paid by the employer, flexible work hours, and suchlike. However, every sixth respondent indicated that he or she received no fringe benefits.

According to the study, the situation on the labor market continued to improve in 2014 as employees' wages continued to increase. Experts also predict that employers will be "cautiously optimistic" in 2015 regarding both the creation of new jobs and raising employees' wages.

A comparison of data from different regions and major cities of Latvia shows that the average net wages in Riga and Daugavpils differ by up to 46%. The lowest average wages are paid in Latgale province, the highest – in the Greater Riga Region. When the survey data are compared to those of the Central Statistical Bureau, the proportion of wages paid under the table equals about 30% of the total wage amount.

The study involved almost 20,000 respondents, it was carried out from July 2014 to February 2015 via the "Algas.lv" database.

CV-Online Latvia also spoke to employers about salaries paid for different jobs.

The company is planning to do the survey on an annual basis from now on.