Changes are mostly evident in the statistics of Asian and African arrivals. The number of Indian nationals working in the country has increased by as much as two and a half times, with 2,500 new arrivals in the year.
The number of Uzbeks almost doubled, with 3.4 thousand new workers, while that of Tajiks and Azerbaijanis rose by one and a half times, with 1.9 thousand and 1.5 thousand new workers respectively.
For the first time, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have entered the top 20 list of third countries most immigrant workers are coming from. Data of 1 July show more than 200 Zimbabwean nationals working in Lithuania, compared to less than ten a year ago, according to the Employment Service.
The number of newcomers from Africa now stands at 1,400 – they hold citizenship of 40 countries on the continent. The number of Africans has risen by 600 over the year, compared to 800 last year. The largest number of newcomers to the labour market is from Nigeria – 330 this year compared to 266 last year.
Other Africans come from Zimbabwe (216), Cameroon (179), Egypt (175), Morocco (134), Ghana (95), Algeria (39), Kenya (35), Tunisia (28), Eritrea (21) and South Africa (20).
Most of them work in medium-skilled jobs (52%), 29% in high-skilled jobs and 19% in unskilled jobs.
Meanwhile, the number of Russian nationals coming for work has grown the least this year, with only 26 people hired in Lithuania. The number of Ukrainians working in Lithuania has also changed only slightly, with an increase of 1.7 thousand. By contrast, the number of Belarusians in the labour market went up by a tenth or 4.3 thousand.
On 1 July, half of the third-country nationals employed in Lithuania or 74.1 thousand were working in transport and storage companies. Around one-sixth (24 thousand) were employed in the construction sector and one-tenth (14.5 thousand) in manufacturing.