Analytics, Baltic, Employment, Financial Services, Markets and Companies, Wages

Employers in Latvia turned out to be the most optimistic about the next year, with 47% of respondents planning to hire new employees in 2016 whereas in Lithuania and Estonia these figures were 42% and 40% respectively.

Compared to a similar survey conducted last year, demand for employees has increased only in Latvia – by 5%. Meanwhile demand for employees has dropped 6% in Lithuania and remained unchanged in Estonia.

The main reasons for hiring new employees given by the employers in the Baltic States are the increasing amount of work (50%) and the employee turnover (about 25%).

More than one-third of the employers in the Baltic States plan to increase wages to keep the existing employees and make themselves more appealing in the eyes of potential employees.

In Latvia, 40% of employers plan to increase wages to their staff, up by 4% from the previous year, while 26% would keep wages unchanged and 7% said that they would give a raise to some employees but reduce wages for others. Only one% said they would cut wages to their personnel, and 26% of employers could not yet give a definite answer about their wage policy next year.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Aivis Brodins, the head of CV-Online Latvia, said that economic growth in Latvia was expected to pick up some pace next year therefore the number of companies planning to hire new employees for expansion of business had increased.

"Thus, we can expect a moderate increase in employment and reduction of unemployment, slowed down by the shortage of appropriate personnel arising from the declining number of working-age population due to the demographic problems and emigration. In order to keep skilled personnel and hire some more, the businesses will pay more attention to wage rises while focusing also on productivity of employees,” he said.

CV-Online carried out the online survey in October and November 2015, interviewing over 2,600 employers in all three Baltic states. Including 221 in Latvia, 283 in Lithuania and 2,174 in Estonia.