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Latvia needs skilled, not cheap workforce: economics minister

Xinhua, September 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

A cheap workforce is not an important criterion for the labor market anymore. Instead, people's skills and abilities will be valued in the future, said Latvian Economics Minister Arvils Aseradens on Wednesday.

The minister made the comments when presenting the economics ministry's report on labor market forecasts at parliament's sustainable development committee meeting.

Aseradens said a group of three ministers -- the economics, welfare, and education and science ministers -- were currently discussing problems related to investments in human capital or skills and abilities.

"The human resource issue is crucial when thinking about the ability of the economy to go along the global value chains. A cheap workforce is not an important criterion on the labor market any more, instead people's skills and abilities will be valued in the future," said Aseradens.

The economics ministry in its forecast said in the coming years the situation in the labor market would continue to gradually improve and by 2022 the number of employed people would grow by 50,000. The ministry also expected the unemployment level to drop to 6.0 percent from the current 9.5 percent.

The ministry also said that in the medium-term, the demand for engineers would grow, while the demand for humanities-related jobs would drop.

As the education system is not ready for the labor market demands, specialists in humanities would be in surplus, estimated at about 10,000 people, while there would be a shortage of 16,000 people specializing in sciences, ICT, and engineering in 2022. Endit