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🇱🇹 Lithuania /Economy & Trade

The labor market paradox: Thousands unemployed as businesses look abroad for workers

From Delfi · () Lithuanian

Translated from Lithuanian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Lithuania has more than 140,000 registered unemployed people, yet businesses continue to report labor shortages and look abroad for workers.
  • Officials and business representatives say employers particularly need motivated, adaptable workers with technological and digital skills.
  • Manufacturing, retail and transport face strong demand, while aging workforces raise concerns about future shortages in healthcare and education.

Lithuania’s labor market faces a striking contradiction: more than 140,000 people are registered as unemployed, while businesses still struggle to find workers and increasingly turn to foreign labor.

Rita Karavaitienė, head of the Employment Service’s communications department, said the market needs both motivation and specific skills. “In general terms, Lithuania is currently short of people who are simply motivated to work,” she said. From a skills perspective, she pointed to technology and digital abilities, the growing influence of artificial intelligence, and the capacity to learn new processes quickly.

In general terms, Lithuania is currently short of people who are simply motivated to work.

· Rita KaravaitienėThe Employment Service representative described the broadest labor-market shortage.

The strongest demand remains in manufacturing, retail and transport. Karavaitienė also warned about what she called “pain points” in medicine and education. These sectors may have fewer vacancies than others, she said, but their professional communities are aging. Replacing people leaving the labor market will become increasingly difficult.

The first thing business is looking for is workers, and it needed them yesterday.

· Toma StonkienėThe Headex Group executive described the urgency facing employers.

Toma Stonkienė, head of the human resources department at Headex Group, said the pressure is intensifying from the business side. Employers need workers urgently, she said, and are looking first for reliable, loyal and engaged people who want to learn. Companies can often provide the necessary training themselves.

Businesses face a second problem after recruitment: high employee turnover. Stonkienė said companies must repeatedly introduce new workers and devote resources to rebuilding skills that could otherwise support operations and efficiency. Headex Group and Spinter Research surveyed more than 3,000 company employees and other workers in Lithuania to examine why people change jobs. The article presents the debate as a question of whether foreign workers have become essential or whether Lithuania is still failing to unlock the potential of its own workforce.

So we have two problems: a continuing shortage of workers, and the fact that a worker does not stay in one organization.

· Toma StonkienėShe identified recruitment and employee turnover as separate challenges.
About this summary

Originally published by Delfi in Lithuanian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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