Actual unemployment in Latvia reported at 7.6% in 2021

In December 2021, the actual unemployment rate in Latvia was 7.6 %, up by 0.5 percentage points compared to November.
The male unemployment rate rose by 0.7 percentage points to 8.6 % in December, while for females it increased by 0.3 percentage points to 6.6 %, according to data of the Labour Force Survey conducted by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP).
The unemployment rate registered with the State Employment Agency was 6.7 %, 0.3 percentage points higher than in November.
«It should be noted that in November, a requirement came into force whereby employed persons in public, municipal institutions and in the private sector whose work entailed an increased risk of exposure to Covid-19 could only continue to perform their duties with a certificate of vaccination or re-vaccination, thus potentially increasing the number of unemployed persons,» CSP reports.
Compared to December last year, the actual unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points and the registered unemployment rate – by 1.0 percentage point.
In December 2021, there were 71.4 thousand unemployed persons (30.6 thousand females and 40.9 thousand males) in Latvia, which is 4.4 thousand more than in November and 4.4 thousand fewer than in the same period last year. The number of unemployed males increased by 3.3 thousand during the month, while the number of unemployed females increased by 1.2 thousand.