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He noted that the support provided by the state to the Latvian population during the crisis, including downtime benefits, has "softened a sharper decline in unemployment".

"This type of benefit, probably in a modified form, should be continued in order to keep unemployment at a reasonably low level, so that unemployment does not rise very rapidly to a very high level and does not remain so for a longer time," Rutkaste said.

He also noted that if Latvia manages to prevent a sharp rise in the unemployment rate and a high rate in the longer term, the crisis is unlikely to be followed by mass emigration.

At the same time, Rutkaste also acknowledged that emigration will largely depend not only on the situation in Latvia, but also on unemployment in the countries to which Latvians go in search of work.

As reported, in April this year Latvia's real unemployment rate was 9.2%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points against March, shows the Labor Force Survey conducted by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB).

CSB representatives indicated that the registered unemployment rate recorded by the State Employment Agency was 8 percent at the end of April, which is a rise of 1.2 percentage points against the end of March.

Compared to April 2019, real joblessness in Latvia climbed 2.7 percentage points and registered unemployment rose 1.7 percentage points in April 2020.