Latvia’s unemployment rate edged down to 7.0% in the second quarter of 2026 from 7.1% in the previous quarter, but was higher than the 6.7% recorded a year earlier. The number of unemployed persons declined slightly quarter‑on‑quarter by 0.2 thousand to 66.2 thousand.
By gender, the unemployment rate for men increased to 8.1% from 7.2%, with 37.8 thousand men unemployed. In contrast, the rate for women fell to 5.9% from 7.0%, with the number of unemployed women at 28.4 thousand.
The youth unemployment rate (ages 15–24) rose to 15.0%, corresponding to 11.1 thousand young people, who accounted for 16.7% of the total unemployed population.
At the same time, 15.6% of the population aged 20–64, or 161.6 thousand people, were economically inactive, a decrease of 2.3 thousand compared with the same period a year earlier.
Overall employment increased by 14.3 thousand to 885.5 thousand, lifting the employment rate to 65.1%, 1.3 percentage points higher than in the first quarter.
