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

She said that this option most often was selected by young people over 22 (23% of respondents), and less often by those who have just graduated from highschool (10%).

At the same time, 17% of respondents plan to start working abroad – 22% of 18-19-year old people, and 10% of 22-24-year old.

Also, 53% of youngsters would like to start work in a company with a good reputation, one third would like to work in a small or medium company, one fourth in a large company, and 6% in one of the start-ups.

Jakubovska said that stability and predictability of income play a great role for the young people.

In the age group of 18-19, the main source of income for the young people is stipend (57%), family support (39%), and only then comes self-earned wage (30%). The situation changes after the age of 22 when the main sources of income include wage (78%), support from families (51%) and stipend (18%).

State Employment Agency director Evita Simsone said that in order to start a successful work life, the young person should be competitive in the job market. The biggest problem of young people in the job market are lack of competences and work experience, inability to choose the right job or profession, lack of knowledge in the legal aspects of employment.

"More than half of the youngsters who register with NVA as unemployed are without a profession and have only elementary or secondary education. After receiving support from the agency for raising qualifications, the young people are able to find jobs quite soon. The average length of youth unemployment is 3.3 months. Youth unemployment in a year has dropped by one fifth, and it is the biggest decline among all target groups," said Simsone.

The survey was conducted in July 2017 on Snapshots internet platform, polling 400 current and future students up to the age of 24 in Riga, other Latvian cities and rural regions.

Swedbank is Latvia’s largest bank by assets.