Latvia Unemployment Rate (Monthly, Eurostat)

## What this measures

The share of Latvia's labour force that has no job, is available to work and is looking for one, each month, seasonally adjusted, ages 15 to 74, both sexes. Eurostat publishes it on the International Labour Organization definition, so the rate compares across European countries.

## Why it matters

It is the most direct read of slack in Latvia's labour market, and it is published monthly on one definition for every EU member, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. Rising unemployment confirms a slowdown in hiring and spending; a falling rate means employers are competing for workers.

## How to read it

Higher means more people out of work. Watch the direction over three months: the series moves in tenths of a point, and a rise of a few tenths over a quarter is a real turn. Compare countries on the same month; the euro-area rate (macro.eurostat.ea_unemployment_rate) is the regional benchmark.

## What it does not say

It leaves out people who have stopped looking, part-time workers who want more hours and workers on short-time schemes, which absorb many European downturns before the rate moves. Monthly figures for smaller countries are partly estimated from quarterly surveys and are revised. The national statistics office's own headline rate can differ (age range, survey timing). Switzerland is published about two months after the others.

## Source

Eurostat, Unemployment by sex and age, monthly data (`une_rt_m`), geo LV, seasonally adjusted, total, % of active population: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/une_rt_m/default/table. Palanor reads it every day. Source: Eurostat. Eurostat's copyright notice: "Reuse of statistical data, metadata, publications, and other dissemination tools published on this website for commercial or non-commercial purposes is authorised provided the source is acknowledged." Palanor reads only EU and EFTA countries, whose data Eurostat allows for commercial reuse.