The Latvian economy ministry has called on businesses to boost productivity to avoid loss of competition amidst rapidly growing wages.

Competitiveness could be increased mainly by investing in new technologies and innovations, the ministry said on its website.

According to the ministry, the reason for the increase of wages is growth of economic activity.

This year, the increase of wages is faster than the previous two years, and in the second quarter of 2017, the wages were 8.7 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2016. The average monthly gross wage in the second quarter was 927 euros.

Additional pressure to increase wages is created by lack of skilled professionals in several sectors of the labor market, it said.