“The labor force is already a complete disaster! In many small stores, owners themselves stand at the cash register because it is impossible to find employees,” characterized the situation Juris Lamberts, director of development of the Latvian Cooperative of Independent Traders (the Aibe store chain), in the TV24 program Naudas cena, writes LA.LV.
According to Lamberts, it is hard to say what to do:
“I suspect that quite a few young people are still leaving Latvia. We see this in rural areas — the population is declining, and along with it, the volume of purchases is decreasing.”
This, in turn, directly affects small traders: the income is insufficient to cover expenses, he explains. As a result, the store owner stands behind the counter himself — out of two employees, only one remains, and the second is now himself.
“This also answers the question of why we want food prices to decrease. Then the flow of goods would become more active again — more would be sold, the trader would earn more and be able to cover his expenses,” the representative of the traders explained.
Speaking about costs, Lamberts acknowledged: “The bureaucracy and requirements coming from regulatory bodies that small stores face are sometimes simply catastrophic.”
