The unemployment rate in Latvia continues to fall.

By the end of June it had decreased to 7.8 percent of eligible residents. Lorija Lietaviete, aide to the State Employment Service's director, told LETA that in June 93,659 job seekers were registered with the service. A total of 25,985 persons who had been unable to find a job for over a year were registered at the center in the last month. The highest unemployment rate was still in the Rezekne District (27.7 percent). The rate also remained high in the Balvi and Kraslava districts (21.9 and 21.8 percent, respectively), the Preili District (20.4 percent) and the Ludza District (20.3 percent). The lowest unemployment rate was again in Riga (3.6 percent). The rate was relatively low in the Ogre District (5.9 percent) and in the Riga District (6.4 percent), as well as the Ventspils (6.2 percent), Cesis and Limbazi districts (7.3 percent). In June, 3,555 unemployed persons were successful in finding a job. Over the six months of this year 6,667 unemployed persons were sent to training, 9,292 accepted interim openings in various municipal jobs and 11,911 were involved in the activities of the Job Seekers Club.