Analytics, Employment, Labour-market, Latvia, Markets and Companies

On one hand, the situation will be affected by a gradual decline of the low base effect in the labor market, while on the other hand – by lower economic growth rates due to tendencies in the external environment, says the Economy Ministry.

According to the Central Statistical Bureau's data, the number of people in Latvia with a job in the first quarter of this year increased 0.4%, compared with the respective period last year. Thus, in the first quarter of this year, there were 884,100 people in Latvia (59.7%) who had a job. Compared with the first quarter of 2014, the employment rate increased by 1.1 percentage points.

At the same time, the number of economically-active residents keeps falling. Regardless of the fact that' economic activity remains the same, the number of economically-active residents dropped 15,700 over the year, reaching 984,600.

The unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2015, as compared with the respective period in 2014, reduced by 1.7%age points – to 10.2%. Compared with the previous quarter, the unemployment rate remains the same.