VILNIUS — Despite improving gross domestic product numbers as Latvia and Lithuania emerge from deep recessions, unemployment numbers have yet to improve.

According to the most recent domestic figures from the country’s central statistics bureau, Latvian unemployment is no longer increasing but stuck at a steady 15 percent. Meanwhile Eurostat’s numbers continue to be higher, showing 20 percent for Latvia, the highest in the European Union.

In Lithuania, the central statistics bureau actually shows higher numbers than Brussels with 18 percent in the second quarter. Eurostat shows Lithuania at only 17 percent.

Most economists expect unemployment to remain a problem in the two countries for the rest of the year as the job market lags behind the general economic recovery.

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