Employment
On March 16th, 2026, the international forum “Future of Work in the Age of AI” is taking place in Rīga, bringing together more than 700 leaders from government, business, the technology sector, academia, and civil society from across the world.
The amendments offer the opportunity for employers and employees to agree on a four-day work week, to agree on half pay in collective agreements, as well as the right for an employee to terminate an employment contract if the payment of wages is delayed by more than two weeks.
Trade unions are ready to appeal to the President as part of their fight for fair pay for overtime and work on public holidays, Egils Baldzēns, chairman of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions, said in an interview with Latvian Radio.
Eurostat data show that while men’s employment rate in the European Union stood at 80.8% in 2024, the women’s employment rate was 70.8%, resulting in a gender employment gap of 10.0 percentage points (pp). The gender employment gap is defined as the difference between employment rates of men and women aged 20-64.
Central Statistical Bureau data, published on 3rd March, show that in 2025 the average monthly gross wages and salaries stood at 1,815 euros (in full-time units).
Virši-A was selected as the best employer of 2025, i.e., the company where survey participants would most like to work, according to a release by the platform CVMarket.lv on 3rd March.
Latvia has maintained its reputation for having a large proportion of women in management positions, and despite losing the leading position in the European Union to Sweden over the span of a decade, it remains a close second.
Latvia's gender pay gap is smaller than Estonia's (18.8%) but larger than Lithuania's (10.0%) and is slightly above the European Union average, according to Eurostat data for 2024 published on February 27th.
Results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the Latvian Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) show that 883.1 thousand people in Latvia, or 64.5 % of the population aged 15–74, were employed in 2025.
Interesting data published by Eurostat on February 18th suggest that Latvia leads the way in the European Union when it comes to finding jobs for young people in areas they are actually interested in and trained for.
In Latvia, a total of 72% of workers are open to changing jobs, according to a survey by recruitment company Alma Career Latvia.
At least several dozen entrepreneurs have reportedly taken advantage of Ukrainian refugees, according to the association "Patvērums "Drošā māja"" (Safe House Shelter), which provides support to those in need, Latvian Television reported on 16th February.
The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) has launched a call for applications for the EU Civil Service Administrator (AD5) competition, which offers graduates and experts the opportunity to start a career in the European Union institutions.
Fresh data published on January 30th gives an idea of how Latvia's minimum wage arrangements stand in relation to its European Union peers.
In 2024, Latvia issued a total of 484 European Union 'Blue Cards' to highly-qualified migrant workers from outside the EU, according to Eurostat data published on January 27th.
The main reason for the shortage of police officers in the State Police is no longer remuneration, but rather human resource management and task prioritisation, State Audit concluded in a report on 27th January.
The career choices of young Latvians are increasingly moving away from the sectors where investments and jobs will probably be concentrated in the future according to survey data presented today, January 21st, by the Latvian Education Accelerator.
Eurostat data published on January 20th show Latvia has relatively few workers in the important field of Research and Development (R&D) compared with other European Union countries.
The State Audit Office (VK) has concluded in its audit, published on 21st January, that remuneration inequality between ministries and state institutions persists. According to the auditors' estimates, employee pay is still determined by historically established base funding rather than by the value of the position and the content of the work.
Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) estimates published on January 20th show that the unemployment rate in Latvia was 7.1 % in December 2025. It increased by 0.2 percentage points month-on-month but did not change year-on-year.
Around one in five Latvian students also holds down a job, according to Eurostat data published on January 19th.
The Foreign Investors Council in Latvia (FICIL), an influential business lobby, said on January 7th it was a "sad reality" that human capital development is not a priority in Latvia.
On March 16th, Rīga will host an international forum titled “Future of Work in the Age of AI”, bringing together more than 600 participants and over 60 speakers from more than 20 countries.
The work atmosphere at national rail company Latvijas dzelzceļš (Latvian Railways/LDz) leaves a lot to be desired, if reports from Latvian Television's De Facto investigative show are accurate.
Following the State Audit Office's autumn report on the organisation of inpatient healthcare, the State Police has initiated criminal proceedings under two articles of the Criminal Law – for possible fraud and document forgery, as confirmed by the police to Latvian Television (LTV). LTV does not yet know which healthcare institution this occurred at.
Amidst digital transformation and growing cyber threats in Latvia and Europe, a significant problem is becoming increasingly apparent – a shortage of cybersecurity specialists and the necessary skills, acording to Alise Gurenko, co-creator and Startup Program Director at Riga TechGirls.
Central Statistical Bureau data published on December 9th show that in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, the Latvian labour market had 19.2 thousand job vacancies, of which,10.8 thousand jobs were vacant in the private sector and 8.4 thousand in the public sector.
In the third quarter of 2025, the average gross salary in Latvia was 1,835 euros, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) published on December 1st.
In the third quarter of 2025, 10.2% of employees worked remotely or partially remotely, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau, 3.2 percentage points less than in the second quarter of the year, when 13.4% of employees worked remotely, Latvian Radio reports on 1 December.
In 2024, 7.9% of people younger than 65 in the EU lived in households classed as having very low work intensity, according to figures published on November 26th by Eurostat.
Follow Eng.Lsm.lv on social media!
Most important
Most read