RDVA2602
In Q1 2025, there were 19.8 thousand vacant jobs in Latvia
Central Statistical Bureau data show that in Q1 2026 Latvian labour market had 19.8 thousand job vacancies, of which,10.8 thousand jobs were vacant in private sector and 8.9 thousand in public. Out of all jobs available in the country (both occupied and vacant), 2.2 % positions were vacant, of which 3.0 % in public sector and 1.8 % in private.
Year-on-year, the number of vacant jobs reduced by 1.8 thousand or 8.3 %. In private sector it dropped by 1.1 thousand (9.1 %) and in public by 0.7 thousand (7.3 %).
The number of occupied posts totalled 889.1 thousand in Q1 2026. Year-on-year, the average number of occupied jobs increased by 17.9 thousand or 2.1 %. In private sector it rose by 20.4 thousand (3.5 %), and in public it fell by 2.5 thousand (0.8 %).
In terms of major occupational groups, the largest share of job vacancies was recorded for technicians and associate professionals (3.7 %), elementary occupations (3.0 %), as well as skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (3.0 %).
Occupations meet the Latvian Classification of Occupations (which is based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations).
When broken down by economic activity, the greatest proportion of job vacancies was recorded in public administration (6.0 %), followed by mining and quarrying (5.7 %), administrative and support service activities (3.6 %), as well as human health and social work activities (2.6 %).
Job vacancies and occupied posts by economic activity *
| End of Q1 2025 | End of Q1 2026 | |||||
| Job vacancies, thousand | Occupied posts, thousand | Job vacancy rate, % | Job vacancies, thousand | Occupied posts, thousand | Job vacancy rate, % | |
| Total | 21.5 | 871.2 | 2.4 | 19.8 | 889.1 | 2.2 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 0.3 | 21.1 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 21.0 | 1.2 |
| Mining and quarrying (B) | 0.2 | 2.5 | 6.8 | 0.2 | 2.7 | 5.7 |
| Manufacturing (C) | 2.6 | 106.3 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 108.0 | 2.0 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D) | 0.3 | 10.7 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 10.5 | 2.5 |
| Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E) | 0.2 | 6.9 | 2.4 | 0.2 | 7.0 | 2.4 |
| Construction (F) | 1.3 | 55.1 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 57.3 | 1.9 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 2.0 | 124.7 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 125.9 | 1.5 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 1.6 | 62.4 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 63.0 | 2.2 |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 0.7 | 31.4 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 33.5 | 1.6 |
| Publishing, broadcasting, and content production and distribution activities (J) | 0.2 | 8.1 | 2.9 | 0.2 | 9.2 | 1.9 |
| Telecommunication, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information service activities (K) | 0.8 | 31.3 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 32.0 | 1.7 |
| Financial and insurance activities (L) | 0.4 | 17.4 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 17.8 | 1.5 |
| Real estate activities (M) | 0.5 | 27.3 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 27.4 | 1.4 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities (N) | 0.4 | 38.0 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 39.6 | 1.2 |
| Administrative and support service activities (O) | 1.3 | 39.0 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 40.6 | 3.6 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (P) | 4.7 | 63.7 | 6.9 | 4.1 | 63.6 | 6.0 |
| Education (Q) | 1.4 | 96.8 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 95.0 | 1.3 |
| Human health and social work activities (R) | 2.2 | 87.9 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 92.8 | 2.6 |
| Arts, sports and recreation (S) | 0.4 | 22.0 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 22.9 | 1.8 |
| Other service activities (T) | 0.1 | 18.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 19.3 | 0.6 |
Regional breakdown of the data shows the largest share of vacant jobs in Riga (2.8 % or 13.9 thousand) and the smallest in Latgale (1.1 % or 0.7 thousand). In Zemgale region, 1.3 % of jobs were vacant (0.9 thousand positions), while in Vidzeme and Kurzeme those were 1.2 % in each (1.1 thousand and 0.9 thousand positions respectively).
Methodological information
* As of Q1 2026, economic activities in the statistics on occupied and vacant jobs are classified according to the latest version of the statistical classification of economic activities, NACE Rev. 2.1.
The share of job vacancies has been calculated using unrounded values.
Reference metadata describing statistics for occupied and vacant jobs are available in the official statistics portal Occupied posts and job vacancies section.
Media requests:
Public Relations Section
E-mail: media@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 27880666
More information on the data:
Santa Leftere
Business Statistics Data Analysis and Dissemination Section
E-mail: Santa.Leftere@csp.gov.lv
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