Klaipėda city municipality approves financial incentive for highly qualified newcomers

In order to increase the attractiveness of Klaipėda city to investors, Klaipėda city municipality has approved a financial incentive for attracting highly qualified specialists from other Lithuanian cities and abroad.

From now on, professionals from other cities and foreign countries who decide to move to Klaipėda will be able to apply for a financial incentive for renting accommodations and language courses, as well as take advantage of a residence search service and consultations on other issues related to relocation to the port city.

The incentive to attract highly qualified professionals to the Klaipėda city municipality provides EUR 2,000 to cover the cost of renting a home and EUR 400 for Lithuanian language courses. The incentive will be open to professionals from 64 fields who decide to settle and work in Klaipėda.

Klaipėda economic development agency “Klaipėda ID” specialists will also help newcomers find suitable housing, declare their place of residence and find and register their children in a school or kindergarten.

This incentive is aimed at attracting professionals, the lack of which slows down the development of investment and the growth of the Klaipėda region’s economy. Therefore, finding and motivating new, highly skilled professionals is crucial for the growth of existing companies in the city and for new investors to choose the port city over other Lithuanian towns for their expansion.

Eimantas Kiudulas, the CEO of Klaipeda FEZ, applauds this initiative. He believes this incentive package will build a competitive advantage for Klaipeda in Lithuania and beyond.

“Although I personally believe Klaipeda is a fascinating destination to live and work even without extra measures, this package might be a decisive factor for some people, and it will definitely put Klaipeda on the consideration map. There are plenty of fantastic career opportunities in our city available, so this piece of news is also a great promotion for them. Finally, this step clearly communicates the willingness of our city to strengthen the talent ecosystem, and so Klaipeda will inevitably deliver something new soon,” says Kiudulas.

Will help to feel welcome

According to the Klaipėda ID job platform, every month, companies in the city prepare around 60 job offers for highly qualified professionals and offer a salary of at least EUR 1,000 after tax. Meanwhile, the average salary in the IT sector, which is constantly looking for highly qualified specialists, is EUR 2,000.

The unemployment rate in Klaipėda is one of the lowest in Lithuania, at just 9.8%, while the number of employees in the Klaipėda municipality decreased by 1.84% last year (1,498 employees).

Reda Švelniūtė, head of the Economic Development Group of Klaipėda city municipality, says that the shortage of specialists is felt in both the public and private service sectors.

“As far as the municipality’s public sector is concerned, we are experiencing a shortage of specialists in the fields of health, education, culture and even sports. This is very important for attracting and encouraging businesses to expand in Klaipėda. After all, with business comes people, and they need a variety of services,” she said.

R. Švelniūtė stressed that Klaipėda city municipality had developed a package of incentives to increase the attractiveness of the city for businesses and talents in targeted areas.

“The package already consists of the existing Green Corridor incentive for large investors and two more incentives, approved by the city council in November and under development. One is for the organisation of conference tourism events in Klaipėda, and the other is for the creation of new jobs in priority business areas,” said Ms Švelniūtė.

Kristina Postornak, Klaipėda ID talent project manager and author of the new incentive, pointed out that incentive packages are a tried and tested way to attract new investors to the city.

“For investors looking at Klaipėda, one of the most important aspects is usually highly qualified professionals: what kind of talent they will be able to attract in the new city, how fast and how many. Of course, competition is fierce in Lithuania and across Europe, so we need to take extra measures to compete successfully with, for example, Vilnius or Kaunas, where the supply of talent is currently higher. If we cannot secure enough talent, we risk losing potential new investments and slowing down the development of companies already operating in the city,” she said.

She argued that the financial incentive for housing and the integration service is unlikely to be the main motivation for talent earning a sizeable salary to move to Klaipėda. Still, they will certainly help them to take their first steps in the port city and feel welcome.

“There are a lot of questions and uncertainties for talent coming to a new city. So along with the incentive, we will help you choose the best neighbourhood, find housing, kindergartens, schools, and declare your place of residence. This will be part of the ‘soft landing’ service – the basic steps needed to settle in Klaipėda,” said K. Postornak.

The approved incentive will complement the measures already implemented by Klaipėda ID for highly skilled professionals: soft landing services, professional community networking, relocation counselling, and the mobilisation of a network of Klaipėda Ambassadors.