The Latvian job market: October report

Average gross pay was €1,886 a month in Q2 2026, and net pay €1,401. Gross pay rose 4.3% over the year, but after prices real net pay rose only 1.1%. A year earlier real pay grew 6.6%. In September 2026, consumer prices were 3.0% higher than a year earlier.

In computer programming, average gross pay was €3,497 in Q2 2026, up 10.2% over the year. In an employers' pay survey, pay for the same job rose 5.8% this year.

The minimum wage is €780 in 2026, and the tripartite council backed €820 for next year; the government will decide. 17.1% of employees earn the minimum wage or less.

The unemployment rate was 7.3% in August 2026, against 7.2% a year earlier. That is above the EU average (6.1%) and Lithuania (6.1%), but below Estonia (8.0%).

Youth unemployment changed fastest: it rose from 11.9% to 16.0% in a year, against an EU average of 15.4%. The monthly youth figure is volatile, but the rise has lasted several months.

Registered unemployment moves the other way: it was 4.5% in September 2026, against 4.7% a year earlier. Fewer people register with the agency, but that does not mean finding work has become easier.

Latvia's job market runs at two speeds. Registered unemployment was 3.6% in the Rīga region in September 2026 and 9.2% in Latgale. Average gross pay was €2,068 in Rīga in Q2 2026 and €1,365 in Latgale.

In Latgale, rail freight and call centres are cutting jobs. Some IT specialists in the region work remotely for international companies, so local statistics do not always see them.

Here we count not vacancies but the people working in each occupation. In 2025, business and administration associate professionals grew most (+9.2k): accountants, buyers and sales agents, secretaries. Personal service workers came second (+5.6k): cooks, waiters, hairdressers, guides. Over four years they grew even more (+16.6k).

Health professionals (−2.5k) and building trades workers (−2.5k) fell most. There are fewer building trades workers than four years ago (−6.7k), even though construction of buildings added posts over the year; the two figures are measured differently, so they can disagree.

The state registers give a finer picture, though a year later. In the year to the start of last year, shop sales assistants fell most (−1,602), and house builders fell too (−699). Shelf fillers (+571) and cashiers (+460) grew.

Data from employers show which industries fill posts. In Q4 2025, compared with a year earlier, food and beverage service (+2,571), construction of buildings (+2,522) and health care (+1,822) added the most posts. Warehousing and transport support (−1,517), retail (−1,414) and information services (−802) lost the most.

These figures run to the end of last year, because the industry classification changed this year and most industries are no longer comparable. Of those that kept their content, financial services grew most this year (+1,355).

In aviation, up to 700 jobs are to be cut this autumn. At the same time, defence plants and new service centres in Rīga are hiring.

Latvia's unemployment (7.3%) is above the EU average (6.1%), the OECD average (5.0%) and the world rate (4.9%, the International Labour Organization's projection). Its vacancy rate is close to the EU average: 2.2% against 2.0%; Lithuania has 2.3%, Estonia only 1.4%.

Pay in Latvia is rising more slowly than in its neighbours. Hourly pay grew 4.1% in Latvia in Q2 2026, 6.5% in Estonia, 9.6% in Lithuania and 3.2% in the EU. After inflation, Latvia keeps 0.8%, Estonia 3.5% and Lithuania 4.3%.

Software postings are down worldwide. Indeed's data put the software development index (pre-pandemic = one hundred) at 47.7 in Germany, 51.3 in France, 60.0 in the United Kingdom and 78.9 in the United States; only Australia is above its pre-pandemic level (105.7). All job postings in the euro area changed by −12.6% over the year.

The World Economic Forum expects 170 million new jobs and 92 million displaced worldwide by the end of the decade, a net gain of 78 million. Data, fintech and AI specialists and software developers grow fastest; cashiers, bookkeeping and data entry clerks decline fastest.

Latvia fits this picture only in part: bookkeeping clerks are fewer than four years ago (−18.4%), but cashiers grew last year, and the number of ICT specialists fell.

Public administration is hardly hiring this year. Officials' pay was not raised in 2026, and the freeze continues next year with no new posts. Next year's budget is short of €469 million for laws already passed, and the government is reviewing headcount and the pay system.

Vacancies in public administration and defence changed by −975 over last year, and in education by −409. Occupied posts in public administration and defence did grow (+1,756): the industry includes defence, and the registers list more soldiers.

State decisions shape the private market too. 22,917 people from outside the EU received work rights in 2025, most of them general labourers, truck drivers and construction workers.

The Bank of Latvia expects unemployment of 6.7% in 2026 and pay growth of 7.4%. In the summer the Ministry of Finance cut its pay growth forecast to 5.5% and its GDP growth forecast to 2.0%.

Actual pay growth (4.3%) is now slower than both forecasts, so we expect them to be cut. The International Labour Organization's model puts Latvia's unemployment this year at 6.3%.

The population was 1,845,096 on 1 January 2026 and is still shrinking, though fewer people leave. The Ministry of Economics' long-term forecast expects fewer people of working age.

On 22 October 2026, izdosies.lv carried 10,187 live job ads. Manufacturing has the most (1,303), followed by health care, transport and construction.

There are 228 IT ads, and they carry the highest median pay of any field: €2,608 a month before tax. 52.0% of ads state a monthly pay.

These figures show one site's ads, not the whole market, but we refresh them every day. In the coming reports they will show how demand changes month by month.

Every figure in this report has a source and a period; the full table also gives the method and, where the source states one, the publication date. Official data come from the open databases of the Central Statistical Bureau, Eurostat, the OECD and the International Labour Organization; figures from news and studies come from the publications we link. We update the report once a month.