RIGA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- For the first time since the coronavirus crisis broke out in Latvia in March this year, the Baltic country has recorded a slight drop in unemployment, the Baltic country's employment authority said Friday.
Evita Simsone, head of the State Employment Agency, said that the number of jobless people in Latvia reduced from 78,266 at the end of June to 77,998 at the end of July. Joblessness declined across Latvia, except the less economically prosperous region of Latgale.
Between June 30 and July 31, the unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percent in the western Latvian region of Kurzeme and 0.2 percent in the central region of Zemgale.
The number of vacant jobs also grew during the summer, Simsone said. In addition to demand for seasonal workers in the agricultural and tourism sectors, demand for workforce remained strong also in transport and construction, she said.
She also noted that the spike in unemployment triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic marked a significant change in unemployment demographics, as layoffs and furloughs affected primarily well-educated and young people residing in the capital city Riga and surrounding areas. On the whole, collective layoffs affected some 5,000 employees during the COVID-19 crisis, Simsone said.
In June 2020, Latvia's unemployment rate hit 10.1 percent, which was well above the EU average rate of 7.1 percent, according to Eurostat data. Enditem
