The number of workers from the European Union dropped by 11.3 percent in Lithuania in the first half of this year, and the number of workers from third countries inched down by 2.4 percent, the country’s Employment Service said on Monday.
Some 127,300 foreigners are currently working in Lithuania, including 117,900 from third countries and 9,400 from the EU, the service said.
“Compared to the beginning of the year, the number of third-country workers slightly decreased, but the countries of origin changed. This is likely to be related to the shortage of hauliers in the country and the logistics companies’ new focus on workers from Central Asia,” Jurgita Zemblytė of the Employment Service said in a statement.
The number of workers from third countries reached 117,900 in mid-February, with Belarusians (44,200) and Ukrainians (43,500) accounting for the largest share of them, while the number of Uzbeks and Tajiks rose to 4,100 and 3,400, respectively.
Every second third-country national works for transport and storage companies (66,100), while a smaller number of them work in the construction sector (19,200) and in manufacturing (11,500).
Out of the 43,500 Ukrainians working in the country, 28,400 were employed after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
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