Results of the Labour Force Survey conducted by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) show that 910 thousand people or 65 % of the population of Latvia aged 15–74 were employed in 2019.

Compared to 2018, employment rate grew by 0.5 percentage points and number of employed persons by 0.6 thousand.

Higher rise in the number of employed persons was registered in construction, financial and insurance activities, public administration and defence; compulsory social security, as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Last year, 3.6 thousand employed persons participated in complex support activities organised by the State Employment Agency, e.g., had paid temporary community work while still having the status of unemployed.

In the 4^th quarter of 2019, 913.1 thousand people aged 15–74 were employed in Latvia, which is 4.7 thousand people fewer than in the 3^rd quarter. Employment rate constituted 65.4 %, which is 0.2 percentage points lower than in the 3^rd quarter.

Nevertheless since the 4^th quarter of 2012 Latvian employment rate exceeds the European Union (EU) average¹ (in the 3^rd quarter of 2019 it constituted 61.2 %), in the 4^th quarter it was the lowest among the Baltic states – employment rate in Estonia constituted 69.2 % and in Lithuania 65.7 %.

Data source: Eurostat database, data on the 4^th quarter of 2019 – Labour Force Surveys of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

In 2019, employment rate among young people (aged 15–24) constituted 31.8 %, which is 1.3 percentage points lower indicator than that recorded in 2018. The number of employed young people accounted for 54.5 thousand (57.4 thousand in 2018). Compared to the 3^rd quarter, in the 4^th quarter number of employed young people grew by 0.7 thousand or 1.2 % and constituted 57.1 thousand.

Last year, persons in main job worked on average 37.9 hours per week – 0.4 hours fewer than in 2018. In the 4^th quarter of 2019, persons in main job worked on average 37.8 hours per week, which is 0.8 hours fewer than in the 3^rd quarter.

Compared to 2018, in 2019 the share of employees receiving EUR 700–1400 grew by 4.2 percentage points (and constituted 29.9 %), whereas share of employees receiving more than EUR 1400 rose by 1.2 percentage points (and constituted 5.3 %). Share of employees receiving EUR 450 monthly after taxes fell to 25.8 % (drop of 4.7 percentage points), the proportion of employees receiving minimum monthly wage² or less accounted for 14.4 % or 116.0 thousand people (a reduction of 2.5 percentage points over the year). In 2019, the highest share of people receiving lowest wages was still recorded in Latgale, where 23.6 % of the employees received minimum wage or less. In 2019, wage or salary of 2.7 % of employees was not calculated or paid, while 2.3 % did not indicate the size of earnings thereof.

In the 4^th quarter of 2019, compared to the 3^rd quarter, the share of employees receiving less than EUR 450 monthly (after taxes) rose to 23.7 % (increase of 0.7 percentage points), the proportion of employees receiving minimum monthly wage or less constituted or 14.3 % or 115.6 thousand people (upturn of 1.9 percentage points, compared to the 3^rd quarter of 2019).

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

	2018	2019	2019
	2018	2019	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Employees	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
up to EUR 450.00	30.5	25.8	29.0	27.7	23.0	23.7
employees receiving minimum monthly wage or less	16.9	14.4	15.3	15.6	12.4	14.3
EUR 450.01–700.00	34.4	34.0	34.8	31.5	34.3	35.3
EUR 700.01-1400.00	25.7	29.9	26.4	30.2	31.8	31.1
EUR 1400.01 and more	4.1	5.3	4.4	5.3	5.9	5.5
was not calculated or paid	2.6	2.7	2.8	2.9	2.4	2.6
not specified	2.7	2.3	2.6	2.4	2.6	1.8

In 2019, Labour Force Survey questions about economic activity were asked to 27.9 thousand people aged 15–74 living in 16.0 thousand households, while in the 4^th quarter – to 6.9 thousand people aged 15–74 living in 3.9 thousand households.

¹ EU average indicators on 28 Member States.

² In 2018 and 2019 minimum wage constituted EUR 430.

Media requests:
Communication Section
E-mail: media@csb.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366989, +371 27880666

More information on data:
Sandra Ceriņa
Social Statistics Data Compilation and Analysis Section
E-mail: Sandra.Cerina@csb.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366653

Employment

KEY INDICATORS

Employment

Employment rate (%)

PUBLICATIONS

Labour force survey: key indicators in 2021, in Latvian

Young Europeans (Eurostat)

Press releases

In the 1st quarter, 63.2 % of the population were employed

In 2021, 62.5 % of the population were employed

In 3rd quarter, 63.5 % of the population in Latvia were employed