EMPLOYMENT

The precipitate fall in the production volumes together with restructuring of the economy in Riga at the beginning of the 90s brought about serious tensions in the labour market. There are more people now who either have lost their work or cannot find work. As a result, many working age inhabitants are looking for jobs, poverty levels are high and social exclusion is widely spread. At the beginning of 2001, the number of economically active inhabitants in Riga was 423.5 thousand, 3.6% of them - unemployed (see also Table 9, Figure 23 ).

Due to loopholes in regulations and national supervision and control mechanisms, employers and officials afford to downplay their responsibilities and regard human health and life as inferior to realisation of economic goals.

Research of the labour market shows that the situation in the market could continue to deteriorate in the near future, which could have an adverse effect on the inhabitants of the city form the point of view of sustainable social development. In this regard, in addition to creating new jobs in the city, it would also be necessary to improve the working environment and see to it that human health and life become priorities in labour relations.

See also:

Figure 25 Unemployed persons by nationality

Figure 26 Unemployed persons by sex and age

Figure 27 Unemployed persons by education qualification

Figure 28 Unemployed persons by occupation