The current market situation shows that Latvia should speed up its education reform and think about attracting additional human resources from other countries, said Latvian Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola.
“We have a number of problems. We see unemployment is in decline, dropping to 7.2% in the past three years, whereas the number of employed people remains unchanged. It is a red light for national economy,” explains the minister.
She emphasizes that tax reform alone is not enough to guarantee economic development. Other solutions are needed as well, including qualified labor force.
“We hear this more and more often from businessmen,” she added.
Wage rise is predicted by around 6-8%.
“This is good news for residents. Businessmen will be forced to pay more, which will create more pressure on production costs. It is always a risk that needs balancing to prevent wage rise from being more rapid than productivity,” she noted. (BNN/Business World Magazine)