Jobseekers question support from Latvia’s employment agency

Some unemployed people in Latvia say the State Employment Agency’s support is too formal and does not meet their needs, while the agency says it tailors help to jobseekers. The criticism was reported by LSM’s LTV programme Aizliegtais paņēmiens.

Antra, who has been looking for work for about a year, said she had expected more interest from the agency. She questioned whether frequent meetings with its staff were useful and said she had received no feedback on her job-search diary. She also described the advice at career consultations as generic. When she applied for support to start a business, she said, the consultant had not read her application.

Another jobseeker, Iveta, said the agency’s offers were not suitable for qualified people. The agency rejects the criticisms.

In mid-summer, Latvia’s unemployment rate was 4.6%, with about 41,000 people unemployed. Women accounted for 54.5% of registered jobseekers and men for 45.5%. The largest age group was people aged 50 to 59, at about 25%, or just over 10,000 people. Those aged 40 to 49 made up about 22%.

By education level, 31% of unemployed people had vocational education and 25% had higher education. Across Latvia, people took an average of 123 days, or about four months, to find a new job. The average was 82 days for people aged 15 to 24 and 166 days for those over 50.

The agency has 518 employees working in about 30 locations across Latvia. Around 90% of its staff are women.