Same job, different pay

  • 2010-10-27
  • From wire reports

RIGA - A total of 57 percent of Latvian companies have laid off workers in the past year, according to a study by the recruitment company Fontes Grupa on salaries in the Baltic States, reports LETA.
A similar tendency is also evident in the other Baltic States; however somewhat lower. In Lithuania, 53 percent of companies had laid off workers, while in Estonia the figure was 48 percent.

The study indicates that monthly and yearly gross salaries in Latvia fell an average of 1.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively in 2010, with employees carrying out basically the same duties as before. In Lithuania, monthly and yearly gross salaries fell on average by 0.3 percent, while in Estonia, gross monthly salaries have grown by 0.7 percent, and gross yearly salaries by 0.1 percent.

“A new problem is appearing in the Baltic States’ employment markets, the reason which is long-term structural unemployment. This can have a destructive effect, as qualified workers lose their skills due to structural unemployment or leave the country to find work abroad. On the other hand, employers expect that due to the high number of unemployed, they can take on qualified specialists but pay lower salaries,” said Kamarute.

The study by Fontes was carried out in more than 600 Baltic State companies employing a total of more than 100,000 people.