“In the context of the challenges with China, it is very important to improve Lithuania’s investment, to become a more flexible, faster, open country living in such a competitive neighborhood as Northern and Baltic Europe, and to have more ambitions. One of the key questions is whether Lithuania can be open to talent from all over the world. Personally, I think that not only can, but also must be open to talents from all over the world, ”says A. Armonaitė.

The Minister emphasized that the lack of talent is always heard among the most pressing issues for companies. This is also shown by a survey of 500 companies last year.

“One third of them said that the number one issue is attracting talent, which Lithuania has to solve.

We need to have more ambition to prepare and attract talent from around the world. For two thirds of the world, Lithuania is an advanced, growing, attractive country for creating a life, ”she notes.

A. Armonaitė and measures to attract more qualified employees to Lithuania.

“First of all, we need to significantly review migration procedures, shortening them, changing the service, getting involved and servicing documents not only in Lithuanian, but also in foreign languages. The provision of remote services needs to be increased. We have also proposed and need political support to make Lithuania a tech gateway for IT professionals. Companies need not only highly qualified professionals, but also younger professionals who have medium qualifications and can grow together. We have proposed solutions, we believe that at least a few thousand IT professionals could be involved in the near future.

We are proposing the liberalization of non-work migration, teleworking visas, and so on. things. We will soon implement an initiative to offer foreign students to obtain double diplomas both at a Lithuanian higher education institution and abroad, so that they can continue their work in the field of IT and biotechnology during or after their studies. Soon, there is already a plan and planned financial resources, we offer companies to be able to compensate the costs of relocating talent to Lithuania, ”the Minister pointed out the nearest plans and directions.

Initiatives proposed by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation to attract the talent needed by Lithuania:

1. Develop collaborative projects to attract talent to target third country markets.
2. In order to attract more foreign students, Lithuania should implement the Studycation program, which would allow prospective students to get acquainted with the opportunities operating in Lithuania.
3. To create a package designed to encourage long-departed Lithuanian citizens, highly qualified specialists to return and continue their careers in Lithuania.
4. Create an incentive recommendation system for targeted talent.
5. To create a package of measures aimed at increasing the ability of employers to attract talent and motivate and prepare to hire foreign and Lithuanian diaspora specialists.
6. Apply tax and financial incentives to make a competitive bid for talent.

Over the next decade, Lithuania aims to increase the share of high economic value activities. However, there is a shortage of specialists to achieve this. The share of employees in high-tech manufacturing and knowledge-intensive service sectors in Lithuania in 2020 accounted for only 13.6 percent. This is the second worst performance in the EU, far behind the EU average.

According to the assessment of international organizations, the shortage of labor and the competencies of employees that do not meet the needs of the market are already one of the main factors limiting the growth of the Lithuanian economy. 2020 The World Talent Competitiveness Index Lithuania ranked 117th out of 132 countries in terms of the ability to find qualified employees.

Investors in Lithuania also feel a great need for qualified employees – in 2021. Q4 Lithuanian investor confidence index 77 percent. companies surveyed say there is a shortage of skilled labor in our country. According to the data of the association InfoBalt, 14 thousand people are currently missing. ICT sector workers.