NVA: unemployment in Latvia will not exceed 7.4% this year

Unemployment in Latvia will not exceed 7.4% this year, according to the director of the State Employment Agency (NVA) Evita Simsone.
«The outlook is that unemployment in Latvia will not exceed 7.4% this year. What could influence it? There is the situation with the spread of Covid-19 and introduction of new restrictions. Thesea re the conditions that could change the outlook. If the situation remains stable, unemployment will not exceed 7.4% by the end of the year,» says Simsone.
She says the effect of Covid-19 on the labour market is clear, but so far it has not been strong so far. «Of course the effect has been notable in each individual situation on a personal and company level. However, the effect on a national level has not been large and has not affected unemployment indexes all that much,» admits the director of NVA.
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According to her, even at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment had increased by a mere two percentage points – from 6.4% to 8.4%. «Unemployment has been declining since April. It’s not very fast, but it is stable. Every day there are more people returning to the labour market than falling out from it. The general trends on the labour market are currently positive,» said Simsone.