Latvians Return to the Labor Market, but There Is Still a Long Way to Go

Latvians Return to the Labor Market, but There Is Still a Long Way to Go 0

Publication date 17.03.2026 12:42

LETA

Latvians Return to the Labor Market, but There Is Still a Long Way to Go

Photo: Unsplash

The number of workers in Latvia increased last year, although it has not yet recovered to the level preceding the pandemic, writes Dienas Bizness.

At the same time, significant changes have occurred over the years, dictated by external and internal factors affecting the number of jobs. This is evidenced by data from the State Revenue Service database. The number of employees (who pay mandatory state social insurance contributions) in December 2025 was 806,541, while in the same period of 2024 it was 801,157, in 2022 it was 811,655, and in 2019 it was 817,262.

This dynamic is the result of several factors, including a declining population and share of working-age residents, weak economic growth, high inflation, and the fight against it through increased interest rates that have restrained economic activity in key sectors; scientific and technological progress that ensures higher labor productivity with fewer employed; and the consequences of the pandemic, which left some people out of work at that time.

In 2025, the highest number of employees was recorded in July - 826,561, with 727,107 people working at one job in July, while the highest number of people simultaneously employed at two jobs was in June - 81,158. Additionally, June also recorded the maximum number of employees working at three or more jobs - 15,086 and 7,813, respectively.

"According to the data, about 95,000 people (around 12% of the employed) in Latvia work at multiple jobs, of which about 75,000 work at two, around 13,000 at three, and about 7,000 at more than three 'jobs'," noted Peteris Leishkalns, an expert from the Latvian Confederation of Employers on social security and health care.

In his opinion, one of the reasons people distribute their workload among several jobs is that when employed at one place, overtime hours arise, for which, according to labor law, the employer must pay double. "By distributing the workload across several jobs, these people do not receive any extra pay for overtime work at all. Aligning overtime pay levels with other Baltic countries might reduce the need to work at multiple places," Leishkalns argues.