Analytics, Employment, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Wages

In the 2^nd quarter of 2017, Latvian employment rate (62.6%) was the highest recorded since the 2^nd quarter of 2008 (63.1%).

In the 2^nd quarter of 2017, in Latvia there were 891.7 thousand employed persons aged 15–74.  Compared to the previous quarter, in the 2^nd quarter of 2017 the employment rate rose by 1 percentage point, while the number of employed persons by 9.2 thousand.  The most significant increase in the number of employed persons was recorded in manufacturing, education, arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodation and food service activities, as well as administrative and support service activities.

Nonetheless since the end of 2012 Latvian employment rate has been exceeding the European Union (EU) average (58.9% in the 1^st quarter of 2017), in the 2^nd quarter of 2017 it was the lowest rate recorded among the Baltic states (66.9% in Estonia and 63.6% in Lithuania).

In the 2^nd quarter of 2017, the employment rate among young people (aged 15–24) constituted 35.8%, which is 3.6 percentage points higher than in the corresponding period a year before.  The number of employed young people accounted for 64.6 thousand (63.0 thousand in the 2^nd quarter of 2016).

In the 2^nd quarter of 2017, persons employed in the main job worked on average 37.7 hours per week – 0.8 hours fewer than in the 2^nd quarter of 2016.

The Labour Force Survey data show that, compared to the 2^nd quarter of 2016, in the 2^nd quarter of 2017 the share of employees receiving less than 450.00 euros monthly (after taxes) reduced to 39.2% (a drop of 5.9 percentage points). The proportion of employees receiving minimum monthly wage or less constituted 148.2 thousand or 18.9% (reduction of 2.0 percentage points over the year).The share of employees receiving 450.01–700 euros monthly rose by 1.7 percentage points (31.8% in the 2^nd quarter of 2017) and that of employees receiving 700.01–700 euros monthly increased by 2.4 percentage points (19.7% in the 2^nd quarter of 2017).In its turn, the proportion of employees receiving more than 1400 euros monthly grew by 1.2 percentage points (3.7% in the 2^nd quarter of 2017).Wage or salary of 3.4% of employees was not calculated or paid, while 2.2% did not indicate the size of earnings thereof.

Employees by monthly net (after taxes) wages and salaries in the main job, %

Data source:  Latvian Labour Force Survey

In the 2^nd quarter of 2017, the Labour Force Survey covered 4.1 thousand households, in which 7.6 thousand persons aged 15–74 were interviewed.

More information on employment statistics is available in the CSB database section Employment and Unemployment – Key Indicators. Results of the Labour Force Survey are published in the CSB database section Employment and Unemployment.