Proportion of employed persons having higher education is growing in Latvian market

RIGA - Data compiled by the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia show that, out of 804,000 people (aged 25 and over) employed on the national labor market at the beginning of 2022, 42.1 percent had higher education, which is an increase of 0.9 percentage points over the year.

Out of the number, majority (24.8 percent) had acquired master’s degree, 13.2 percent bachelor’s degree, 3.4 percent short-cycle tertiary (college) education, and 0.7 percent doctorate.

In 2022 upper secondary education was completed by 37.2 percent of the employed persons, post-secondary non-tertiary education by 13.8 percent, lower secondary education (second stage of primary education or basic education) by 6.6 percent, and first stage of primary education by 0.3 percent.

In 2022 a tenth (11.9 percent) of the employed persons aged 25 and over occupied manager posts, a third (33.9 percent) was formed by technicians and associate professionals, almost a fourth (22.3 percent) by skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers as well as craft and related trades workers, and a fifth (19.6 percent) by clerical support workers as well as service and sales workers. Elementary occupations engaged 12.4 percent of the number.

The share of employed persons having higher education has gone up in almost all major groups of occupations, however the sharpest rise was recorded among managers (of 1.1 percentage points or from 69.5 percent in 2021 to 70.6 percent in 2022). The proportion of employed persons having higher education has also risen among clerical support workers (by 0.8 percentage points or from 41 percent in 2021 to 41.8 percent in 2022) and technicians and associate professionals (by 0.6 percentage points or from 58.3 percent to 58.9 percent, respectively).

Drop in the share of employed persons with higher education was registered among skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (0.7 percentage points or from 3.3 percent in 2021 to 2.6 percent in 2022), moreover similar trend in this occupational group was also observed among those having lower secondary education or lower level (down by 3.2 percentage points or from 24.1 percent to 20.9 percent).

Among armed forces occupations, the share of employed persons with higher education has risen by 0.3 percentage points (from 39.2 percent in 2021 to 39.5 percent in 2022).

Decline was recorded in the proportion of people engaged in elementary occupations and having lower secondary education or lower (of 1.4 percentage points or from 16.7 percent to 15.3 percent) while the share of people having higher education in this occupational group has gone up slightly (from 10.5 percent to 10.6 percent).

In 2022 the highest employment rate (92.2 percent) within population aged 25–64 was among people having doctorate, followed by those with master’s degree (84.1 percent), bachelor’s degree (82.1 percent), and short-cycle tertiary education (85.2 percent).

Similar trend may also be observed within population over working age – out of those who have reached retirement age (64 years in 2022) but stay on the labor market, 48.8 percent have acquired short-cycle tertiary education and 48.5 percent doctorate degree. In addition, 39.9 percent of the number have bachelor’s and 28.9 percent master’s degree.

The lowest employment rate (8.2 percent of the population aged 25–64) was registered among people with no formal education or lower than primary education. There may be various reasons behind not acquiring education, e.g., health problems or disabilities, personal or family conditions. Out of the people who had completed first stage of primary education, 37.3 percent were employed, among those with second stage of primary education (lower secondary or basic education) the share accounted for 52.1 percent, those with upper secondary education for 66.4 percent, and those with post-secondary non-tertiary education for 71.5 percent.

Higher employment rate within population over working age was recorded among people having post-secondary non-tertiary education (22.1 percent), followed by those having upper secondary education (18.9 percent), lower secondary education (9.8 percent), first stage of primary education (3.7 percent) and no formal education or lower than primary education (2.3 percent).