Registered unemployment rate in Latvia remained unchanged at 11.5%

130,296 people were registered as unemployed with the Employment Agency at end-December, compared to 130,240 at the beginning of December. The agency's database contains information on 4,321 vacancies.

The lowest unemployment rate in December was in Riga Region, 8.3 percent, whereas the highest unemployment rate was in Latgale Province - 19.8 percent. Unemployment rate in Kurzeme was 12.1 percent in December, 12.7 percent in Zemgale and 13 percent in Vidzeme.

Among the cities, Riga had the lowest unemployment rate in December, 7.8 percent, followed by Jelgava - 8.8 percent, Ventspils - 9.3 percent, Valmiera - 9.7 percent, Daugavpils - 10.1 percent, Jurmala - 10.3 percent, Liepaja - 12.7 percent, Jekabpils - 14 percent, and Rezekne - 17.9 percent.

As reported, the registered unemployment rate in Latvia in January and February last year was 14.5 percent, in March the rate decreased to 14.4 percent, in April - to 13.9 percent, in May - to 13.2 percent, in June - to 12.6 percent, in July - to 12.1 percent, in August - to 11.8 percent, in September - to 11.6 percent, and in October and November - 11.5 percent.

LETA