They promised to limit salary growth in the public sector — we got an increase of 8% 0 18

"How is it that a year ago the coalition promised that the salary fund in the public sector would increase by a maximum of 2.6% in 2025, while statistics for the first eight months showed an increase of more than 8%?" asks former Minister of Welfare, Chairman of the Board of the New Conservative Party Gatis Eglitis on the social network 'X'. So did the politicians and officials keep their promises, and if not, why?

According to the Latvian Confederation of Employers (LCE), salaries in the public sector increased by 5.8% in the first eight months of this year. Data from the State Treasury shows that in almost all ministries, the salary growth limit of 2.6% has been exceeded.

"One can only wonder how the Ministry of Finance plans to achieve this indicator by the end of the year. I think that by the end of the year, the government will be able to state that the decision has been fulfilled because no one will be able to prove otherwise - due to numerous exceptions and other decisions, it will be very difficult to prove that this is not the case," notes LCE expert on finance and taxes Janis Hermanis.

On October 14 last year, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a limit on the salary fund growth in the public sector in 2025 to 2.6%. The rapid growth of salaries began in 2022 when amendments were made to the labor remuneration law, providing for a gradual increase in salaries in state and municipal institutions to bring them closer to the level of the private sector.

In 2023, salaries in the public sector increased by 15.2%, and in 2024 by 14.6%. For comparison, in the private sector, the growth in these same years averaged 11% and 9%, respectively.

Entrepreneurs began to complain that the private sector could not keep up with such salary growth, and a trend of labor force migration to the public sector emerged. Although initially the goal of the wage reform was to bring public sector salaries closer to private sector levels, by 2025, the average salary in the public sector already exceeds the average salary in the private sector by more than 100 euros.

According to the Central Statistical Bureau, in mid-2025, the average salary in the public sector was 1886 euros per month, including in the public administration sector (ministries, municipalities, state institutions) - 1679 euros per month, while in the private sector it was 1781 euros per month.