Unemployment in Lithuania reached record levels: peak expected in February

According to data from the Employment Service, as of January 1 there were 277.1 thousand. unemployed wives: they represented 16.1%. of the total working-age population.

At the beginning of January, compared with December 1, registered unemployment increased 0.6 percent. compared to the beginning of January 2020 – 7.4 points.

In December, compared to November, the demand for labor decreased by almost a quarter: 22.5 thousand were registered in the Employment Service. job offers, or 23.7 percent. less than in November.

Those most in demand in the labor market in December were loaders, packers, cleaners, truck and heavy truck drivers, salespeople, builder-installers, advertising and marketing specialists.

The need for butchers, fish farmers, worker isolators, and packers increased the most during the month, while the need for managers, unskilled builders, and agricultural and forestry machinery operators decreased less.

25.7 thousand were given employment in December. unemployed. Due to seasonality and quarantine, the number of people who found work decreased by 15% compared to November.

Head of service: 16 percent. unemployment is not yet the top of the mountain

By the end of 2020, 16 percent. official unemployment has not yet reached the top of the mountain; the peak can be expected to be reached in February, says the head of the Employment Service.

According to Inga Balnanosienė, it was previously thought that the positive scenario would be to end the year at less than 16%, but considering the strict quarantine restrictions introduced at the end of the year, the current indicator is “quite optimistic”.

“It is definitely not the top of the mountain, but I would stick to the previous view that we should reach the top in February,” I. Balnanosienė told BNS.

“In any case, government measures, both vaccination and other security measures, are clearly beginning to work. We must hope that the labor market, although registered unemployment does not decline so fast, does not grow so significantly,” he said. .

According to her, the registration of people in the Employment Service fell in December, but unemployment was driven by the decrease in job offers.

“Both the second quarantine and the stricter restrictions, which is normal with such a number of infections, again led companies to stop the selection and search processes for employees,” emphasized I. Balnanosienė.

According to her, the trend, when registered unemployment grows in December, is almost every year; generally, in the last month of the year, the indicator jumps between 0.1 and 0.2 points.

This stagnation is usually due to the seasonality of the labor market and fixed-term employment contracts usually end in December, explained the head of the service.

However, this time the growth in December reached 0.6 points. I. Balnanosienė admits that this is not a fluctuation within the usual limits. According to her, the pandemic highlighted the usual trends in the job market this month.

“Unemployment (in December – SNB) generally increases between 0.1 and 0.2 percent. But it stabilizes very quickly already at the end of February and gradually decreases until the summer, when graduates arrive,” said I. Balnanosienė.

“This year, the trends are much more pronounced and reducing said unemployment, by 16.1%, will certainly be more difficult than usual, as the number of vacancies has doubled compared to the summer period,” he said.