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

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 13:23

43% entrepreneurs in Latvia have been affected by labor shortages in 2017

BC, Riga, 13.04.2018.Print version
As many as 43% of entrepreneurs in Latvia admit they have been affected by labor shortages over the past year, which is an increase by 4% percentage points from the summer of 2017, Citadele Bank’s spokeswoman Baiba Abelniece told LETA, citing the latest Citadele Index.

She said that the entrepreneurs deal with the shortages of workforce either by hiring and training people who have never worked in this area before or outsourcing the necessary services.


The survey, which included 750 entrepreneurs doing business in Latvia, revealed that the severest labor shortages are being felt by manufacturing and construction companies. Most often, difficulties finding employees have been reported by medium-sized and large companies. The issue was admitted by 93% of large companies employing 250 or more people, 75% of medium-sized company (50 to 249 employees) and 55% of medium-small companies (10 to 49 employees) and 41% of small enterprises with up to nine employees.


Asked how they coped with the labor shortage, 48% of respondents, representing mostly trade and construction sectors, said they had hired and trained people without previous work experience in the given field. Meanwhile, 33% had been increasingly outsourcing the necessary services, 16% had lured employees from rival companies and as many had automated operations. Data shows that training workforce is more popular in Latvia’s regions, while Riga-based companies are more likely to use outsourcing.


The Citadele Index also shows that 6% of enterprises, mostly services providers and large companies, had sought guest workers outside Latvia.


The Citadele Index is based on a survey of 750 company owners and business executives, representing firms of different sizes doing business in different industries. The index is published quarterly since 2004. SKDS pollster carries out the survey for Citadele Bank.






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