Many Latvian farms lacked the necessary amount of workers even before the Covid-19 novel coronavirus pandemic, and are turning to those newly unemployed due to the crisis to find new work hands, according to Latvian Agricultural Organization Cooperation Council (LOSP) Director General Guntis Vilnītis.
Usually this is the time when farms would rely on an influx of seasonal workers, but as one of the precautionary restrictive measures the government imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus included closing national borders, this will no longer be an option. Berry season is almost upon us, and farms also need helping hands to take in vegetables in greenhouses. Farms will offer both permanent and seasonal work opportunities in various agriculture sectors.
Many companies are closed during the Covid-19 outbreak, but others are seeing increased demand for services and products. These latter now tend to absorb part of the workforce that is seeing downtime.
One example is the Karavela fish processing company, which has been importing workers as the company has had employee shortages for the past two years. Demand for jobs is high. The company hopes to fill 80 vacancies but is now receiving 300 to 400 calls a day from people seeking work.
Elīna Novada, the head of the Svaigi.lv digital market, says increased demand for local products has made the company seek more employees. She says the company had to move to larger premises in response to growing demand – and did so within a day’s time.
Information source: Latvian Public Broadcasting, Ministry of Agriculture
