Seasonal drop in the registered unemployment level

Under the influence of seasonal factors, unemployment level continued to drop in June (by 0.4 percentage points, to 11.9% of the economically active population). The number of unemployed (117606) was the lowest since Spring of 2009, reflecting the sustained rise in gross domestic product. Even though filling the seasonal vacancies at the beginning of the summer slightly reduced the total number of vacancies, the number of unemployed to one vacancy (28) was still the lowest in the last three-and-a-half years. The number of newly registered unemployed in June (7850) did not differ substantially from the previous month's level while being significantly lower than the indicators of the previous summer and the beginning of this year.  

It can be predicted that the unemployment level will continue to drop, since economic growth, inflows of investment and rise in private consumption will require additional labour. Business employment predictions remain positive overall and are more convincing than last year, which suggests a future rise in employment.  

The most problematic is still the regional aspect of employment. Even though unemployment is dropping in all regions of Latvia, the 22.9% unemployment in Latgale compared to 7.7% in Riga and 8.1% around Riga are numbers that speak for themselves requiring proactive employment policy measures directed at the rural areas.