Unemployment

The unemployment rate stood at 7.4% in Lithuania in the fourth quarter of 2023, up by 1.2% from the quarter before, reports the State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania), citing the data of the Labour Force Survey.

Lithuania expects its economy to expand by 1.7% next year, following a soft landing in 2023, according to the latest update on the Finance Ministry’s Economic Development Scenario. The same growth was projected by the ministry in September.

The Bank of Lithuania projects the country’s economy to shrink by 0.2% this year. Projections have been upgraded by 0.4% compared with September’s forecast of 0.6% economic decline.

In October 2023, actual unemployment rate in Latvia was 6.3%, and it has not changed over the month Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) estimates show. Over the year actual unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points.

The State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania) reports that based on data of the Labour Force Survey, in Q3 2023, the unemployment rate stood at 6.2 percent and, compared to Q2 2023, increased by 0.3 percentage point, compared to Q3 2022 – increased by 0.5 percentage point.

In June 2023, actual unemployment rate in Latvia was 5.6%, the same as a month before, the Labour Force Survey conducted by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) shows.

Lithuania’s gross domestic product (GDP) is set to shrink by 1% this year, before growing by 2.5% the following year, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.

The Lithuanian central bank forecasts that the economy may contract between 3.4 and 20.8 percent this year, depending on how long the nationwide quarantine remains in place.

Unemployment dropped by 0.7 percentage points to 6.5 percent in the first quarter in Lithuania year-on-year, the latest figures from the country's statistics office, Statics Lithuania, showed on Friday.

Governments must urgently step up their efforts to improve their education and training policies to help more people reap the benefits of the digital transformation and to reduce the risk of automation widening inequalities and driving unemployment, according to a new OECD report.

Lithuania's unemployment figures in 2018 were better than those of the EU on average, the EU statistics office Eurostat said on Monday.

Youth unemployment in Lithuania has shrunk significantly over the last few years. Specialists say, however, that this is as much to do with emigration as with the growing economy.

The new Labour Code and Social Model that Lithuania's ruling coalition plan to push through before the end of their term is drawing both criticism and praise. A range of leading experts give their view of whether it is a great step forward, or backwards.

The Lithuanian government and parliament groups have agreed to set up an unemployment fund. The money would be used to pay benefits to people who lose jobs after working at least three years for the same employer.

According to Eurostat, the European Union's statistical department, unemployment fell through the Euro zone and the EU in January while growing slightly in Lithuania.

Unemployment increased in Lithuania in December as it fell across the eurozone, according to the latest figures from Eurostat, the EU statistics agency.

Contracted export market and Russian economic stagnation last year slowed Lithuania's gross domestic product growth, but this year the growth will be twice as fast and will rise from 1.6 to 3.2 percent, announces professional services company EY in the latest publication the Euro Forecast.

Lithuania's economy will grow by 2.8% in 2015 despite a range of headwinds, driven on by increased consumer spending, low oil prices and a recovering Eurozone, according to SEB Bank’s latest projections.