| Just a few years ago Latvia showed rapid economic growth in the forefront of EU accession, but the recent economic rollercoaster ride has reduced unjustified expectations to begging for a bailout. The country is now under a three-year, 7.5-billion-euro bailout program adopted by the EU. Unlike in Soviet times when Latvia had flourishing electronic and automobile manufacturing industries, the declaration of independence unhesitatingly made tourism the major source of income, making Soviet-era industries a relic of the communist past. As of today, the Latvian economy produces mainly raw materials and low-value goods. Degradation of the production sector has created unemployment and a lack of opportunity, particularly for a rising generation, which in turn has resulted in low birth rates. Whilst there has been a steady influx of tourists to the country, there has also been an increasing outflow of skilled domestic labor. The best brains are fleeing the country, both because of high unemployment and low salaries. Skilled workers started to move to greener European pastures after Latvia joined the EU in 2004, when a free flow of labor within the EU made it easy for Latvians to find better jobs abroad. It is that pull factor which led Sergey to leave his homeland for a job in publishing. A Latvian expat living in the UK, Sergey Petrazhevsky told RT "it is basically a ghost country really in terms of economics. I was struggling to get a job that would pay 700 pounds [about $1116 ... |
