Minimum monthly wage in Latvia to grow to EUR 700 next year

RIGA - As of next year, the minimum monthly wage in Latvia will increase to at least EUR 700, according to draft amendments to government regulations submitted by the Welfare Ministry. 

The current regulation on the minimum monthly wage for a full-time job sets the minimum wage at EUR 620 per month. However, amendments adopted to the Labor Law in 2022 stipulate that the the minimum wage has to increase to at least EUR 700 as of January 1, 2024.

According to the Central Statistical Bureau's (CSB) data, in 2018-2021 the share of employees earning the minimum pay or less was in the range from 18.1 percent to 20.6 percent, making around one fifth of the employed population. In 2022, the share of employees earning the minimum pay dropped to 16 percent. 

CSB data on the number of employees earning the minimum wage or less in 2022 show that out of 123,143 employees earning the minimum pay of less, 94,190 people, or 17.7 percent, worked in the private sector, while 26,032 people, or 11.4 percent, were public sector employees. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a slight increase in the percentage of public sector employees working for the minimum wage or less - from 11.4 percent in 2019 to 13 percent in 2021, while there was no such increase in the private sector.