This report was prepared by Anne Lauringson, Judd Ormsby, Stew Butler, and Matija Vodopivec in the OECD’s Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs (ELS) under the supervision of Theodora Xenogiani (team leader). Antti Kurenniemi and Matti Kinnunen from Gofore provided a technical assessment and related recommendations that supported this report. Statistical assistance was provided by Dana Blumin and editorial assistance by Lucy Hulett and Natalie Corry.
This report has greatly benefited from the information received from stakeholders in Latvia. Most especially during a fact-finding mission to Riga, in November 2022, where meetings were held with the Ministry of Welfare (MoW), the State Employment Agency (SEA), the Central Statistical Bureau, the State Education Quality Service, the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Education Development Agency, and a private training provider, Citadele. The report also benefited from the discussions in the international workshops held in 2023 in March (on skills profiling) and December (on job matching).
In addition, the report benefited from the comments received on earlier versions through virtual meetings and in writing, including from Ilze Zvidrina, Imants Lipskis, Alona Tutova, Raimonds Bridaks, Gundars Ignats and Laura Gulbe from the MoW; from Ilze Apine, Eva Lossane, and Eva Lapsina from the SEA; and from Rima Joujou-Deljkic and Florin Popa from the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Reform (DG REFORM). Comments were also received from participants during earlier presentations of chapters from this report in October 2023 and November 2024. Comments were also received from Stefano Scarpetta and Mark Keese at the OECD.
This report is produced in the framework of the project “Modernizing digital systems of the Latvian Public Employment Services” (www.oecd.org/els/emp/latviadigitalpes.htm), which was conducted in the context of DG REFORM’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI). The aim of this project carried out by the OECD in co‑operation with DG REFORM of the European Commission is to help the MoW and the SEA harness the potential of digitalisation to boost their capacity to provide effective and efficient support to jobseekers, persons at risk of losing their job, and employers.