Seasonal lack of seasonal workers in Latvia / Article

Farms cannot employ these seasonal farm workers for more than 90 days, and they are subject to a 15% personal income tax (PIT) rate. However, the maximum wage they can receive is € 3,000 for the whole season.

Employers can register seasonal farm workers in the LAD’s electronic application system. The number of registered farm workers increased by 21% last year.

Mārtiņš Trons, spokesman for the Farmers’ Saeima, attributed this to a reduction in the shadow economy in the sector and also to an increase in the area of both the fruit and vegetable sectors, where harvesting mostly requires manual labour. Also, with the rise in prices, people are looking for more opportunities to earn money, especially young people.

The data also shows that most seasonal farm workers are employed during the summer months. Trons added that the current registration period is from 1 April, but the sector would be interested in registering seasonal workers earlier, and farms would also like to expand the range of work they do by registering seasonal workers in pre-processing or processing of fruit and vegetables, including driving machinery.

Trons stated: “Of course, because spring came earlier this year, a lot of field work could have started earlier. This means that it would be in our interest as an industry that this system could be open as early as 1 March or mid-March and we could employ these seasonal farm workers. Of course, it is 90 days, and perhaps this maximum amount that a person can earn under the farm workers’ scheme is not adequate. It is an income of EUR 3,000, but we would like to see this amount increased so that, in some cases, these people can also be employed for the whole period of the scheme, which is 90 days.”

Trons also pointed out that the agricultural sector in general has a shortage of workers every year for these seasonal jobs. Some people also leave their jobs during the season, and migrant workers are also brought in every year to fill vacancies, including Ukrainians, but it is not a large number at the moment.

Tell us about a mistake