Progressives political party is categorically against the idea to shorten the parental leave, as LETA was told by the party’s Saeima faction chairman Andris Šuvajevs.
Latvian Minister of Welfare Uldis Augulis announced that due to the shortage of workers the government is considering shortening parental leave. Progressives are categorically against this.
The party would not support this proposal if the government offered it, said Šuvajevs said, adding that until now there has been no such proposal.
In his interview to “Spried ar Delfi”, Augulis mentioned that the parental leave could be shortened to one year in Latvia.
This could only be done if the children were provided with kindergartens or babysitting services from the age of one. This would allow parents of children to return to the labour market as soon as possible.
“It is important for us to look to the future so that we have enough people in the labour market so that we can provide the same pension system and that part of solidarity that the current workers pay for the pensioners of the moment,” said the minister.
The Ministry of Welfare, when asked to comment on the statements from Augulis, gave a laconic response to the LETA, stating that the ministry is currently “not working on any specific amendments to the law relating to parental leave”.
Also, the Ministry has not made any specific calculations on what a reduction of leave by six months would bring to the labour market.