Analytics, Employment, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Labour-market, Latvia, Markets and Companies

In the 3^rd quarter of 2017, in Latvia there were 903.0 thousand employed persons aged 15–74, which is 8.0 thousand more than a year ago.

Compared to the previous quarter of 2017, in the 3^rd quarter employment rate rose by 1.0 percentage points, while the number of employed persons by 11.3 thousand. The most significant increase in the number of employed persons was recorded within the age groups 45–54 and 55–64 (5.8 thousand and 2.8 thousand, respectively).

Since the end of the 4^th quarter of 2012, Latvian employment rate has been exceeding the European Union (EU) average indicator (59.8% in the 2^nd quarter of 2017), and in the 3^rd quarter of 2017 it was equal to that registered in Lithuania (63.6%), however lower than that recorded in Estonia (68.3%).

Data source: Eurostat database, data on the 3^rd quarter of 2017 – Labour Force Surveys of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

In the 3^rd quarter of 2017, the employment rate among young people (aged 15–24) constituted 35.0%, which is 2.5 percentage points higher than in the corresponding period a year before. The number of employed young people accounted for 62.1 thousand (60.9 thousand in the 3^rd quarter of 2016).

In the 3^rd quarter of 2017, persons employed in the main job worked on average 38.8 hours per week – 0.1 hours fewer than in the 3^rd quarter of 2016.

The Labour Force Survey data show that, compared to the 3^rd quarter of 2016, in the 3^rd quarter of 2017 the share of employees receiving less than EUR 450.00 monthly (after taxes) fell to 38.9% (a drop of 5.1 percentage points), while the proportion of employees receiving minimum monthly wage or less constituted 149.3 thousand or 18.7% (reduction of 1.4 percentage points over the year).The share of employees receiving EUR 450.01–700.00 monthly rose by 1.9 percentage points (32.8% in the 3^rd quarter of 2017) and that of employees receiving EUR 700.01–1400.00 monthly increased by 3.1 percentage points (20.8% in the 3^rd quarter of 2017).In its turn, the proportion of employees receiving more than EUR 1400 monthly grew by 0.2 percentage points (2.7% in the 3^rdquarter of 2017).Wage or salary of 2.9% of employees was not calculated or paid, while 1.9% did not indicate the size of earnings thereof.

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

Data source: Latvian Labour Force Survey

In the 3^rd quarter of 2017, the Labour Force Survey covered 4.1 thousand households, in which 7.6 thousand persons 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.

As of the 3^rd quarter of 2017, the quarterly indicators on unemployed persons by main sector of economic activity (NACE Rev.2) will not be published; only the annual statistics will be published.