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

At the beginning of March 2018, there were 65,282 people registered with the government agency as jobless. By the end of the month, their number had declined by 651 to 64,631 people.

The steepest increase in the jobless rate was recorded in the Latgale province in eastern Latvia, where unemployment rose 0.4 percentage points month-on-month to 16.4% at the end of March. Unemployment in the Kurzeme province in western Latvia was 8.1% in March, unchanged from February.

In the rest of the Latvian provinces, unemployment decreased slightly in March - by 0.3%age points to 7.5% Vidzeme, north-eastern Latvia, and by 0.1 percentage point to 6.8% in Zemgale in the central part of the country.

The lowest registered unemployment rate - 4.3% - was recorded in the Riga Region where unemployment edged down 0.1%age point month-on-month to 4.3% at the end of March this year.

In the Latvian capital Riga, the unemployment rate also moved down 0.1 percentage point from February to 4.1% in March.

At the end of March 2017, the registered unemployment rate in Latvia was 8.3%.