920.1 thousand people or 65.3% of Latvia population aged 15-74 were employed in Q3. Over the year, employment rate grew by 1.7% and number of employed persons by 17.2 thousand.
Compared to the previous quarter, employment rate grew by 0.9% and number of employed persons by 10.5 thousand.
Nevertheless, since Q4 2012 Latvian employment rate has been exceeding the European Union average (in Q2 2018 it constituted 60.5%), in Q3 it was the lowest among the Baltic States – employment rate in Estonia constituted 68.2% and in Lithuania 65.4%, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.
In Q3 the employment rate among young people (aged 15-24) constituted 36.2%, up by 1.3% YoY. Out of all young people, 62.7 thousand were employed.
In Q3 persons employed in the main job worked for on average 38.8 hours per week, which is the same number recorded in the same period a year ago.
Compared to Q3 2017 the share of employees receiving less than EUR 450 monthly (after taxes) fell to 28.9%, the proportion of employees receiving minimum monthly wage or less constituted 124.2 thousand or 15.3% in Q3 2018.
The share of employees receiving EUR 450-700 monthly increased by 0.7% (33. % in Q3), and that of employees receiving EUR 700-1400 monthly grew by 6.3% (27.1%). The proportion of employees receiving more than EUR 1,400 monthly increased by 1.6%.
In its turn, wage or salary of 3.3% of employees was not calculated or paid, while 3% did not indicate the size of earnings thereof. (BNN/Business World Magazine)