I. INTRODUCTION
Unemployment really is one of the economic and social problems. However, stressing of this problem usually leaves people with an impression that it is the most urgent in Lithuania. One could read in an article in one newspaper that this problem is not that urgent as our politicians present it. (According to the Statistics Department as of II quarter 2004, there were 183.4 thousand of unemployed. The unemployment rate decreased to 11.3%. In 2003 the unemployment rate reached 12.7%. In 2003, as compared with 2002, the number of unemployed decreased by more than 20 thousand or by 9%.)
The aim – to research how extensive unemployment rate by age groups, sex and education is in Lithuania, also problems in finding employment in Lithuania (particularly for women).
II. METHODS: UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEW AND OFFICIAL STATISTICS
Unstructured interview – random sample consists of about 1000 respondents (“Lithuanian Labour Exchange” participants) who were asked several of questions pertaining to:
What they did when they were out of a job: did they look for work;
If not, did they want to work;
If so, why did they not look even though they wanted to work?
And the main problems in finding job;
Official statistics – were used to research how extensive unemployment rate by age groups, sex and education is in Lithuania (the Tables were took from http://www.std.lt/, „Labor Force- Employment and Unemployment in 1996,“ Publication No 3170, Vilnius, 1997)
Table 1. Unemployment rate by age groups and sex
(average annual; per cent)
Age groups 2003
Total 12,4% Males 12,7% Females 12,2%
15–19 45,2 15–19 39,9 15–19 53,4
20–24 21,8 20–24 19,7 20–24 24,5
25–29 12,1 25–29 15,3 25–29 8,6
30–34 10,5 30–34 10,8 30–34 10,2
35–39 10,4 35–39 11,3 35–39 9,4
40–44 11,4 40–44 11,5 40–44 11,3
45–49 10,5 45–49 10,0 45–49 11,0
50–54 12,4 50–54 11,7 50–54 13,0
55–59 11,5 55–59 9,8 55–59 13,1
60–64 11,5 60–64 13,2 60–64 8,8
65+ 5,4 65+ 2,7 65+ 8,9
http://www.std.lt/
Table 2. Unemployment percentage by education
Total Male Female
thousands % thousands % thousands %
Total 317 100 155 100 162 100
Universities 32 10.1 12 7.7 20 12.4
Higher educational institutions 77 24.3 30 19.4 47 29.0
Secondary shools 101 31.9 48 31.0 53 32.7
Professional secondary schools 61 19.2 39 25.1 22 13.6
Other schools 46 14.5 26 16.8 20 12.3
„Labor Force- Employment and Unemployment in 2003,“ Vilnius, 2004
III. RESULTS
The results of the unstructured interview –
Questions:
What they did when they were out of a job: did they look for work;
If not, did they want to work;
If so, why did they not look even though they wanted to work?
And the main problems in finding job;
Of the 1000 employees who were laid off and looking for work sometime in 2003:
– 57% had been looking for work by January 2004;
– 6% did not look because they were waiting for answers from employers or for a recall to their former job;
– 3% did not look because they were discouraged;
– 32% did not want to work;
– 2% wanted to work but did not look because of various obligations unrelated to work;
– And the main problems in finding job were:
o Cannot find a job in chosen profession;
o Cannot find a job because of no education or profession;
o Cannot find a job because of age;
o Cannot accept jobs because of:
§ Inadequate wages;
§ Requirement of non-limited workday;
§ Bad working conditions;
§ Temporary employment;
Results of the official statistics –
Table 1.
– Unemployment rate by age groups and sex:
Mostly the unemployed are:
15–19 age youth, it is about 45,2%, mostly females – 53,4%.
The main problem of the youth unemployment is the economic and social polarization of society determines the increasing differentiation in young people and conflict between generations. Many young people think that they are not so well integrated in society. They often feel ignored or unprepared to compete on the labour market. What is striking though, is that young people in many cases do not seem to be so interested in changing „this social alienation“.
Least the unemployed are:
65+ age pensioners, it is about 5,4%, mostly females – 8,9%;