Regional Formation and Development Studies

The aim of the article is to prove the positive impact of education on work salary. For this purpose, the main task of the article is toestimate the Mincer rate of return by taking several factors into account. A secondary task of the research is to analyze the results of2010 and 2011 and to find explanations for the significant differences between the two years. The results of research and a detailedanalysis of the labour market indicate a positive return from attainment of education at an individual level, and they strengthen thehypothesis about a correlation among higher education attainment, higher employment levels and welfare. So far, the Mincer rate ofreturn has not been widely used in Latvia.