Education and Science, Labour-market, Latvia

The four industries most short of labor are construction, information and communications technology, wood processing, and mechanical engineering, said Traidas. In the meantime, young people mostly prefer to work in catering and horeca industries, administrative services, marketing, and as auto mechanics.

It was once a common belief in Latvia that vocational education was for those who fail to enroll at a university or college. This is no longer so, for at least two or three years, Traidas emphasized. Around EUR 265 mдn of European Union funds has been invested in construction and reconstruction of vocational schools in Latvia, their technical equipment and teaching aids.

Vocational education has become much more popular with young people, which is proved by statistics, she added.

Traidas went on to underscore the importance of acquiring skills by young people, and also praised employers' contribution to vocational education. At the moment, development of vocational education is closely linked with the needs of the labor market, she said.