Compared to 2021, the number of unemployed persons has decreased by 5.4 thousand or 7.6%. Last year, the Latvian unemployment rate constituted 6.9%, which is 0.7 percentage points less than in 2021. The unemployment rate among women was still lower than among men (5.6% and 8.1%, respectively).
In Q4 2022, compared to Q3 2022, the number of unemployed men grew by 3.7 thousand or 10.3 % while of unemployed women fell by 6.7 thousand or 21.9 %.
In Q3 2022, the Latvian unemployment rate (6.9 %) was 0.9 percentage points above the EU average (6.0 %). In Q4 2022 it still was the highest among the Baltic countries (5.4 % in Estonia and 6.4 % in Lithuania).
In 2022 youth unemployment rate constituted 15.3 %, which is 0.5 percentage points more than a year ago (14.8 % in 2021). Young people aged 15–24 accounted for 9.8 thousand or 15.1 % of all unemployed persons. Over the year, the number of unemployed youth has risen by 1.5 thousand and their share in the total number of unemployed persons by 3.3 percentage points.
In 2022, 31.4 % or 434.6 thousand people aged 15–74 (incl. 160.9 thousand or 37.0 % in the age group 65–74) were inactive, i.e., were neither in employment, nor actively looking for a job. Compared to 2021 inactive population has declined by 12.2 thousand people or 2.7 %.
In 2022 the labor force survey covered 18.5 thousand households in which 31.9 thousand people aged 15–89 were interviewed, including 16.5 thousand households with 27.9 thousand people aged 15–74. In Q4 2022 LFS covered 4.8 thousand households in which 8.3 thousand people aged 15–89 were interviewed, including 4.3 thousand households with 7.2 thousand people aged 15–74.