In 2020, the number of unemployed increased by 28.4 %

Results of the Labour Force Survey of the of the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) show that in 2020, 78.7 thousand people aged 15 to 74 were unemployed. Compared to 2019, the number of unemployed has increased by 17.4 thousand or 28.4 %. Last year, the unemployment rate in Latvia was 8.1 %, which is 1.8 percentage points higher than in 2019. The unemployment rate for women remains lower than for men (7.1 % and 9.1 % respectively).

In the 4th quarter of 2020, compared to the 3rd quarter, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 percentage points and it was 7.9 %.  In the 4th quarter, 75.6 thousand people were unemployed, which is by 5.8 thousand or 7.1 % less than in the 3rd quarter.

In the 3rd quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate in Latvia (8.4 %) was 0.9 percentage points higher than the average indicator (7,5 %) of the European Union (EU) Member States¹. In the 4th quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate in Latvia was higher than in Estonia (7.4 %), but lower than in Lithuania (9.1 %).

The number of unemployed persons who have been unemployed for less than a year has increased, whereas the number of long-term unemployed persons has decreased

Due to the prevalence of Covid-19, some workplaces were closed, so in 2020, compared to the previous year, the number of unemployed persons who had been unemployed for up to 5 months increased by 14.8 thousand (41.5 thousand or 52.9 %) and the number of those unemployed persons who were unemployed for 6–11 months (15.5 thousand or 19.8 %) - by 4.4 thousand. In turn, the number of long-term unemployed who cannot find a job for 12 months or more decreased slightly during the year (by 1.8 thousand); in 2020, this number was 21.5 thousand. In 2020, the share of the long-term unemployed persons in the number of unemployed also decreased by 10.9 percentage points from 38.2 % in 2019 to 27.3 % in 2020.

In the 4th quarter of 2020, 39.2 thousand or 51.8 % of the unemployed were unemployed for up to 5 months (in the 3rd quarter - 44.0 thousand or 54.4 %), but 15.8 thousand or 20.9 % were unemployed for 6–11 months (in the 3rd quarter - 15.3 thousand or 19.0 %). In the 4th quarter there were 20.6 thousand long-term unemployed persons, in the 3rd quarter - 21.5 thousand. In the 4th quarter, the share of the long-term unemployed persons in the number of unemployed was 27.3 %. Compared to the 3rd quarter, it has increased by 0.7 percentage points.

During the year, the number of young unemployed persons has increased by 1.1 thousand

In 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 14.9 %, which is 2.5 percentage points higher than a year ago (in 2019 - 12.4 %). Of all the unemployed persons, 8.8 thousand or 11.2 % were young people aged 15 to 24. During the year, the number of young unemployed persons has increased by 1.1 thousand, but their share in the total number of unemployed has decreased by 1.4 percentage points.

In the 4th quarter of last year, the youth unemployment rate was 11.3 %, which is 3.5 percentage points lower than in the 3rd quarter. The number of unemployed young people decreased by 2.6 thousand and was 6.2 thousand or 8.2 % of the total number of unemployed persons (8.8 thousand or 10.8 % in the 3rd quarter).

Since 2013, the youth unemployment rate in Latvia has been lower than the average of the EU Member States¹ but higher than in Estonia and Lithuania. In turn, in 2020, Latvia had the lowest youth unemployment rate in the Baltic states - in Estonia the youth unemployment rate was 17.9 %, but in Lithuania - 19.6 %.

In 2020, 34.8 % of all young people were active, i.e. employed or actively looking for work (unemployed), while 65.2 % of young people were inactive - mostly still studying and not looking for job. In the 4th quarter, 32.2 % of all young people were active and 67.8 % were inactive.

The number of inactive population has decreased by 2.3 %

In 2020, 30.1 % or 418.4 thousand of the population aged 15 to 74 were inactive (including 159.0 thousand or 38.0 % of the population aged 65 to 74), i.e. were not employed and did not actively look for job. Compared to the previous year, the number of inactive population has decreased by 9.8 thousand or 2.3 %.

In the 4th quarter, 30.7 % or 426.2 thousand people aged 15 to 74 were inactive. Compared to the 3rd quarter, the number of inactive population has increased by 11.3 thousand or 2.7 %.

In 2020, 10.9 thousand or 2.6 % of the inactive population were discouraged to find a job (in 2019 - 13.8 thousand or 3.2 %). In the 4th quarter, such population was 10.7 thousand or 2.5 % (in the 3rd quarter of 2020 - 10.3 thousand or 2.5 %).

In 2020, 15.6 thousand households participated in the Labour Force Survey on labour status, in which 27.3 thousand people aged 15 to 74 were surveyed, while in the 4th quarter the number of households participating was 4.1 thousand, and 7.1 thousand people aged 15 up to 74 were surveyed.

¹ EU average indicators on 27 Member States.

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