Analytics, Employment, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Latvia, Wages

Compared to the year before, in 2017 employment rate grew by 1.3 percentage points and number of employed persons by 1.5 thousand. Employment rate among men grew faster than among women – by 1.6 percentage points and 1.0 percentage points, respectively.

In the 4^th quarter of 2017, 902.2 thousand people aged 15–74 were employed, which is 0.7 thousand less than in the 3^rd quarter. Employment rate constituted 63.7%, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than in the 3^rd quarter.

Compared to the year before, in 2017 the most notable increase in the number of employed persons was observed in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, as well as professional, scientific and technical activities, and information and communication.

In 2017, 2.4 thousand of the employed persons participated in active employment activities organised by the State Employment Agency, e.g., had paid temporary community work while still having the status of unemployed.

Since the 4^th quarter of 2012, Latvian employment rate has been exceeding European Union (EU) average level (which in the 3^rd quarter of 2017 constituted 60.2%). In the 4^th quarter of 2017, Latvian employment rate exceeded Lithuanian rate (by 63.5%), however was still lower than Estonian one (68.4%).

In 2017, employment rate among young people (aged 15–24) constituted 33.0%, which is 0.2 percentage points higher than in 2016.  Last year, the number of employed young people accounted for 59.1 thousand (62.9 thousand in 2016). Compared to the 3^rd quarter, in the 4^th quarter of 2017 number of employed young people dropped by 8.3 thousand or 13.4% and constituted 53.8 thousand.

In 2017, persons employed in the main job worked on average 38.3 hours per week (0.1 hours fewer than in 2016), whereas in the 4^th quarter of the year – 38.1 hours per week (0.7 hours fewer than in the 3^rd quarter of 2017).

Data of the Labour Force Survey show that, compared to 2016, in 2017 share of employees receiving less than EUR 450.00 monthly (after taxes) fell to 39.2% (drop of 4.9 percentage points), while the proportion of employees receiving minimum monthly wage¹ or less constituted 149.4 thousand or 19.1% (reduction of 1.6 percentage points over the year). Also in the 4^th quarter of 2017, as compared to the 3^rd quarter, the share of employees receiving less than EUR 450.00 monthly (after taxes) dropped to 37.0% (decline of 1.9 percentage points), and the proportion of employees receiving minimum monthly wage or less constituted 136.4 thousand or 17.4% (reduction of 1.3 percentage points).Compared to 2016, in 2017 the share of employees receiving EUR 450.01–700.00 monthly rose by 1.7 percentage points (32.4% in 2017) and that of employees receiving EUR 700.01–1400.00 monthly increased by 2.6 percentage points (20.2% in 2017); the proportion of employees receiving more than EUR 1400 monthly grew by 0.7 percentage points (3.4% in 2017).In its turn, wage or salary of 2.7% of employees was not calculated or paid, while 2.1% did not indicate the size of earnings thereof.

Employees by monthly net wages and salaries in the main job (as per cent)

¹In 2016, minimum wage constituted EUR 370, in 2017 – EUR 380.

In 2017, Labour Force Survey covered 16.5 thousand households, in which 30.4 thousand people aged 15–74 were interviewed. In the 4^th quarter of the year, Labour Force Survey covered 4.1 thousand households, in which 7.5 thousand people 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 (Short term statistical data and Annual statistical data).