Unemployment rate in Latvia constituted 7.9% in Q2. Compared to the previous quarter, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2% and over the year – by 0.7%.
In Q2, there were 73.4 thousand unemployed persons aged 15 to 74, down by 10.1 thousand YoY and by 1.3 thousand QoQ. In Q1, the unemployment rate in Latvia (8.1%) was by 0.3% higher than the average in the European Union (7.8%). In Q2, Latvia had the highest unemployment rate in the Baltic States – in Estonia it was 6.9% and in Lithuania – 7.4%, according to the Labour Survey by the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.
In Q2, 37.6 thousand unemployed persons were out of job for up to 5 months. It is by 5.3 thousand less than a year ago and by 0.9 thousand less than in the previous quarter. 15.8 thousand were unemployed for 6-11 months. The number of unemployed persons has decreased compared to Q2 2020 (by 2.2 thousand), but has increased compared to the previous quarter (by 1.5 thousand).
In Q2, there were 19.6 thousand long-term unemployed persons, down by 2.8 thousand YoY and by 2.3 thousand QoQ. The share of the long-term unemployed persons in the total number of unemployed was 26.8%, down by 2.5% QoQ. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, it has decreased by 0.1%.
12.9% of all unemployed persons were young people (15-24 years). Their share decreased by 0.7% over the year, but increased by 1.5% compared to the previous quarter.
Youth unemployment rate was 16.7%, down by 1.5% YoY, but up by 0.4% QoQ.
Over the year, the number of youth unemployed has decreased by 1.8 thousand, but increased by 1 thousand compared to the previous quarter. 33.1% of all young people were economically active, i.e. employed or actively looking for work (unemployed), while 66.9% of young people were inactive – mostly still studying and not looking for work.
In Q2, almost one third (32.4%) or 447.7 thousand of population aged 15 to 74 were inactive, i.e. these persons were not employed and did not actively look for work. Compared to the previous quarter, the number of inactive population has decreased by 9.7 thousand or by 2.1%, but over the year – increased by 32.5 thousand or by 7.8%.
6.7 thousand or 1.5% of the inactive population lost hope of finding a job. For comparison, a year earlier this share was 2.4%, but in Q1 2021 – 1.5%.
In Q2, 4.7 thousand households participated in the Labour Force Survey on economic activity, in which 8.4 thousand people aged 15 to 89 were surveyed, including 4.3 thousand households in the age group from 15 to 74 years, in which 7.6 thousand persons were surveyed. (BNN/Business World Magazine)
