Analytics, Education and Science, Labour-market, Latvia, Markets and Companies

In its report, the ministry emphasizes that demographic changes can aggravate the lack of labor force even more.

According to the demographic prognoses, in Latvia the number of inhabitants is estimated to decrease by at least 71,000, moreover, the ratio of working-age population will drop more markedly than the total number of inhabitants. The report says that the main reason for the decreasing population (in medium and long-term) is aging, which will result in a greater gap between the birth and death rate. Thus, the lack of workforce may be one of the main obstacles to growth.

However, the ME predicts that during the next several years the employment market will gradually continue to improve, although in the medium-term, significant disproportion between the demand and supply of labor force will remain.

The ministry has defined four main problems areas in the existing labor market: the inadequacy between the offer of higher education and labor market demands, the lack of working-age people with secondary vocational education, a large number of young people who enter the labor market without a specialty and specific skills, and a large proportion of unskilled workers.

To deal with these problems, complex solutions should be sought. For instance, it is difficult to increase the number of natural sciences students, if already secondary school students are uninterested in subjects related to the sciences, and have insufficient knowledge about them.

Therefore, the investments in education will bring positive long term effects. Also the input in continued education will be of benefit, as the improvement of professional skills helps to adapt to the changing labor market requirements.

As for related ministries, ME recommends taking into account the suggestions for educational opportunities, including implementing the set educational guidelines for the period 2014-2020.