Occupied posts and job vacancies

Data on occupied and vacant posts provide information on the level and structure of labour demand.

They are also used to recalculate the average number of employees into full-time equivalents, thus ensuring that figures for employees working different workloads are comparable.

Since 2021 the data are calculated according to the results of the administrative-territorial reform held in 2021.

Central and local government bodies, state- and municipal-owned enterprises, private companies, sole proprietors, foundations, associations, and funds employing at least one person.

Target population consists of all statistical units ­– central and local government bodies, state- and municipal-owned enterprises, private companies, sole proprietors, foundations, associations, and funds employing at least one person – that were economically active.

The target population of the survey does not include:

• religious organisations;
• agricultural holdings and fish farms;
• rural handicraft businesses;
• family businesses;
• natural persons engaged in economic activity.

Statistical units whose economic activity is classified under NACE Rev. 2 codes beginning with 97 or 98 are also excluded from the target population. 

N/A

Statistics database

Eurostat (statistical office of the European Union) is responsible for publishing high-quality Europe-wide statistics and indicators that enable comparisons between countries and regions. Statistics for earnings is available in the Eurostat database, in section Labour market / Job vacancies.

Data on occupied posts are available since 2005.

Data on job vacancies are available since 2008, with the breakdowns by sector, main occupational group, and region available since 2016.

Starting from the first quarter of 2021, the number of occupied posts has been calculated using data from the State Revenue Service, resulting in a break in the time-series.

N/A

Information is obtained by compiling data from quarterly CSB statistical reports on the activities of commercial enterprises, central and local government bodies, foundations, associations, and funds (questionnaires 2-darbs, 2-darbs-pašvaldības, and 2-darbs (īsā)), as well as from administrative data sources.

Questionnaire 2-darbs (īsā) is submitted by commercial enterprises, foundations, associations, and funds with 10 to 99 employees.
Questionnaire 2-darbs-pašvaldības is completed by municipalities and other municipal institutions.
All other statistical units included in the sample submit questionnaire 2-darbs.

Administrative data are obtained from employer reports submitted to the State Revenue Service:

• monthly report on compulsory state social insurance contributions from employee earnings, personal income tax, and the business risk state duty;
• report on income of seasonal agricultural workers, personal income tax, and social insurance contributions; and
• micro-enterprise tax declaration.

In 2025, a total of 5.3 thousand respondents are surveyed each quarter.

Central and local government bodies, commercial companies in which central or local government holds 50% or more of the capital, and all private sector businesses with 100 or more employees are surveyed fully. Other statistical units are surveyed using a simple random sampling method, with strata pre-defined by economic activity and enterprise size (based on the number of employees). In addition, all general government sector units – that is, every unit with an institutional sector classification code starting with S13 – are included in the sample, regardless of any other criteria.

The sampling frame was built using information from the CSB Statistical Business Register on economically active units. At the time the sample was drawn, the frame included all statistical units meeting the target population criteria ­– a total of 100 594 units.

*SVTK – CSB typological classification of statistical units.

Information on job vacancies and occupied posts is obtained from the statistical reports. Starting with the first quarter of 2021, State Revenue Service data are also used in the calculations.

The annual indicator is calculated as the average of occupied posts and job vacancies recorded at the end of each quarter of the reference year.

Data collected from sampled respondents are extrapolated using weights assigned to each sampling unit. The weighted indicators are initially aggregated at the NACE Rev. 2 class (four-digit), group (three-digit), division (two-digit) and section (letter) level.

To calculate job vacancy rate, job vacancies are divided by total number of jobs (sum of occupied posts and job vacancies).

The statistics for the general government sector are produced based on the Cabinet Regulations No 1456 on classification of institutional sectors where public authorities also include state social insurance bodies (code S13 04 00). The list of general government institutions and bodies is available in the annex to the regulations and Classification of Institutional Sectors.

As of the first quarter of 2025, data compilation is fully based on the enterprise definition.

The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.

Average number of employees in full-time units is calculated separately for full-time and part-time employees for whom wages and salaries were calculated, and the result is summed. Only full-time employees who were not employed for the entire month are converted into full-time units, using information on the number of hours paid for these employees as reported. Part-time employees are converted into full-time units as follows: the number of hours paid for part-time employees is divided by the number of hours paid to full-time employees, and the result is multiplied by the number of full-time employees.

Each quarter, data summaries are analysed to assess the reliability of the results obtained through the imputation and weighting of non-responding and indirectly surveyed statistical units. Summary indicators are compared with those from previous periods and with administrative data sources.