Due to non-competitive wages Latvia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs experiences a shortage of employees. This problem is present for other state institutions, said minister Edgars Rinkēvičs in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma.
According to him the shortage is not high, but it is difficult to get people interested in working in the ministry with existing base wage.
«Right now it is slightly above that of a Lidl cashier».
The ministry has a serious shortage of lawyers, which, among other things, are responsible for control over compliance with sanctions. Due to the shortage of workers, the legal affairs office has already experienced problems with execution of its main functions. The ministry also suffers a shortage of IT specialists familiar with systems used in state administration, as well as NATO and EU systems.
«We have a rather serious situation on our hands, as well as the problem of finding people. People from these two areas are starting to leave. If they do, all work will halt,» said the minister.
He also added that lately the currency exchange rate has started negatively affecting the ministry’s workers – when the euro exchange rate goes down, they have less local currency to spend. Rinkēvičs said wages in the state administration have to be reviewed and increased in many positions, because it hasn’t been done in a long time.
Also read: Wage growth in Baltic States in last decade – the most rapid among OECD members
Low wages cause Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs suffer shortage of workers
