ISSUES OF LABOUR MARKET DEVELOPMENT IN LATVIA AND EU COUNTRIES

The aim of the paper is analyse labour market flows, "Europe 2020" strategy employment targets and some issues of labour market policy in the EU countries and in Latvia particularly. In the given research, methods are the analysis of the literature and advanced papers in the field of labour market were used. Methodology is based on Eurostat labour market flow statistics. According to the labour market flows, there are four country groups: 1. countries with relatively low unemployment and high transition into employment; 2. countries with relatively low unemployment and low transitions into employment; 3. countries with relatively high unemployment and high transition into employment, and 4. countries with relatively high unemployment and low transition into employment. Improvement of the economic situation in the EU and Latvia has effect on labour market: employment growth has contributed to reduced unemployment. At the same time, there is a risk of youth and long - term unemployment. Increasing duration of unemployment leads to depreciation of skills and higher risk of social exclusion. Long - term unemployment may lead to an increase in structural unemployment.