Of the nearly 25 thousand Ukrainian war refugees who have officially arrived in Latvia, 3,000 have turned to the State Employment Agency looking for job vacancies. The NVA currently has 7,000 vacancies, offered by 900 different employees.
The NVA has received 1,400 submissions from Ukrainian civilians regarding the receipt of the employment benefit, along with the commencement of employment legal relations. 365 of them have been accepted and the one-off employment benefit of EUR 500 is on the way, according to NVA.
Latvian employers offer most vacancies in manufacturing, construction, real estate, catering, food, IT, transport and services, according to Sandra Tarabrina, NVA representative.
Riga Electrical Construction Factory spokeswoman Maija Vorobļova told Latvian Radio that four war refugees were working in the company: “We have one welder, one engineer mechanic, one crane operator, and a press equipment operator. All Ukrainian civilians are working successfully and there are no barriers.”
Their employment-commencement benefits of EUR 500 have not arrived, though. “It's been nearly a month and they haven't received a benefit,” Vorobļova said.
So far, 20 Ukrainian civilians have found their jobs in the retail chain stores of Lidl Latvija. “These are mostly Riga shops, but there is also an employee from Ukraine who works at the Liepāja shop and also at our future Jūrmala shop. There are still vacancies, and we expect both locals and people from Ukraine. We continue to get applications every day that want to work. Very soon, a number of Ukrainian people will start work in our logistics center, not only in shops,” said Zane Neļķe, the company's representative.
