LATGALE REGION - Employment
Lowest activity rate
Latgale is distinctive from other areas of the country as regards the low economic activity of its population, which is the lowest in Latvia. Only slightly more than half of the population are in fact economically active.
The overall employment rate exceeds 40%, although for men this indicator is slightly higher than for women.
Over the past years the breakdown by industries of the employed population of Latgale has changed. We can see positive tendency in the industry sector. The number of employed in all manufacturing industries have increased (by 16% in manufacturing, energy and construction). Three fourth of the employed population of Latgale now work in the services and agriculture sector, where the rise in employment is mainly accounted for by people whose only source of livelihood is work on their own farm. These trends are apparent in the whole country but in Latgale they are more pronounced. The percentage of employed in construction is lower as average in the country with only 4% of the total number of employed in this industry in Latgale. There is the highest share of women to the total number of employed.
The region still faces the consequence of changes in the country?s economic system, and the ensuing collapse of collective farming in agriculture, the weakening of economic links with the main trading outlets in the East and the subsequent closure of large enterprises, was happened in 90s. This part of the country still has the highest registered unemployment rate, 18.1 % in 2002, exceeding the country?s average rate more than 2 times.
The findings of the Labour Force Survey show that the highest rate of job seekers is in Latgale (17.1% in 2002 as opposed to the national average of 12.0%). Nevertheless, during last 2 years the share of young people among unemployed has decreased, and in 2002 it was the lowest in the country.
In Latgale also is the highest share of long-term unemployment: in 2002 this share was 67% (it exceed the average share in country). Since the possibility of finding a job is slim, the period of job seeking is rather long. One fifth (almost 6000 persons) of the total number of job seekers in Latgale have been seeking a job for 24 to 47 months, while almost a third (more than 8000 persons) have been doing so for 4 years or more. Men, who seeking a job 4 years or more are almost 2 times more than women.
Wages strikingly low
One of the characteristics of Latgale region is that traditionally its employees earn very low wages, indeed some of the lowest in Latvia. In 2002 the average gross wage in Latgale was 71.3% of the national average. At the end of 2002, two thirds of the employees in the region earned less than 260 EUR. Unfortunately, wages in the region are still below the national level.
Over the past years, wages in the construction industry in the Latgale region have been fluctuating around 73% of the average level in the country. Since 2000 wages in quarrying and manufacturing have increased, however its represent only 67% of the average level in Latvia. The most critical situation is in branches of the services sector such as trade, public catering, hotel services and business services where labour remuneration is the lowest, and is only 60% of the national average for these branches.
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