Quality of labour market: research experience in Latvia

In the article, the main emphasis is placed on the methodological issues of the study of labour market quality. First of all, the labour market is understood as an institutional unit, as a system of norms and rules of economical behaviour that makes the effective exchange of economical resources among the market agents possible (or impossible). The aim of the article is to try to determine the qualities of the Latvian labour market on the basis of the total evaluation of the indicators such as labour market effectiveness, labour market flexibility, non-existence of discrimination and employee competitiveness. The research objects were carried out in the framework of the project of European Social Fund Nr. PD1/ESF/NVA/04/NP/3.1.5.1/0001/0003. The results of the research testify that Latvia does not have a unite labour market. The data of a sociological survey have showed that the Latvian labour market is “polar”: Riga and the rest of Latvia. On the whole, during the survey the employees of enterprises (institutions) in Latvia signified a sufficiently high degree of satisfaction with the labour market quality, especially with its openness and non-existence of discrimination. The respondents evaluated both the labour market effectiveness and flexibility, and their own competitiveness much lower. Key words: the labour market, labour market quality, labour market effectiveness, labour market flexibility, competitiveness of an employee.