RIGA, Jan 8 (LETA) - Registered unemployment level in Latvia amounted to 7.7 percent of the economically active population at the end of December 2020, which is 0.3 percentage points more than in November and 1.5 percentage points more than at end-2019, according to the State Employment Agency's data.

The Employment Agency's Director Evita Simsone told Latvian Television Friday morning that close to 70,000 unemployed were registered with the agency at the end of 2020.

Even though the registered unemployment level is still the lowest in Riga and Greater Riga, and the highest in Latgale, the steepest increases in unemployment due to the Covid-19 crisis have been observed in Riga and Greater Riga, and the slowest increase in Latgale, added Simsone.

According to the Employment Agency's data, at the end of 2020 Riga Region had the lowest registered unemployment level among Latvian regions - 5.8 percent, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than at end-November. Latgale had the highest registered unemployment of 15.4 percent, 0.3 percentage points up on November.

In Kurzeme, the registered unemployment rate increased 0.5 percentage points to 8.2 percent of the economically active population. In Vidzeme, the registered unemployment rate rose 0.4 percentage points to 7.6 percent, while registered unemployment in Zemgale also increased 0.4 percentage points amounting to 7.3 percent of the economically active population.

In Riga, the registered unemployment level remained unchanged at 5.7 percent of the economically active population.

Last month, the Employment Agency did not receive any reports about pending collective layoffs, while during the entire 2019, 79 such reports were received regarding layoffs of more than 8,000 employees. This is significantly more than usual, for instance, the average number of collective layoff notifications annually from 2015 to 2020 was around twenty.

Simsone expects that unemployment level in Latvia will keep growing in 2021, but it will not exceed 10 percent.

At the end of 2019, the registered unemployment level in Latvia was 6.2 percent of the economically active population.