Low education level may increase unemployment risk even fourfold - CSB

RIGA - Last year, the unemployment rate among people aged 15-74 with basic or lower education was almost four times higher than among persons with higher education, averaging at 13.3 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, according to the Central Statistical Bureau's (CSB) Labor Force Survey 2023.

The unemployment rate among those with general secondary education was 8.8 percent and 7.2 percent among people with vocational or professional secondary education.

The highest number of people with basic or lower education is among the economically inactive population (pupils, students, pensioners and others) - 129,200 people, or 29.9 percent. In 2023, the largest number of such persons was in Riga and Pieriga Region (39.5 percent), which also has the largest population. This was followed by the Kurzeme region, where 16.8 percent of the economically inactive population with the basic or lower education lived in 2023.

Among the unemployed, 16 percent had basic or lower education, the highest percentage of them (31.6 percent) in Latgale.

Among the employed, 7.3 percent had basic or lower education, the highest percentage of them living in Riga and Pieriga Region (31.4 percent) and Kurzeme (21.8 percent).

According to the CSB, 85.2 percent of recent graduates in Latvia aged 20-34 were employed in 2023, which is more than the average for the European Union (EU) (83.5 percent), Lithuania (80 percent) and Estonia (84.7 percent).