WASHINGTON: Unemployment in Slovakia continued to decrease in January. The registered unemployment rate in Slovakia stood at 8.64 percent in January, down by 0.12 percentage points month-on-month and by 1.75 percentage points year-on-year, said Marián Valentovič, the general director of the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (ÚPSVaR) on February 20 when citing ÚPSVaR’s statistics. The number of jobseekers immediately able to start work was 235,455 in January, a decrease of 2,522 individuals m-o-m and of 46,884 (16.61 percent) y-o-y. Job offices reported 38,363 job vacancies in late January, up by 3,079 m-o-m. Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Ján Richter (Smer) sees encouraging developments in Slovakia’s economy in general behind these figures. “Companies are interested in expanding their staff,” said Richter as cited by the TASR newswire. “There’s a feasible assumption that this trend will continue throughout this year.” Meanwhile, the ministry now wants to focus especially on finding jobs for people signed on at labour offices. “Importing a cheap labour force will never be our priority,” stressed Richter.
The unemployment rate calculated from the total number of jobseekers was 10.05 percent in January, down by 0.11 p.p. m-o-m and by 2.13 p.p. y-o-y. The total number of jobseekers stood at 273,894 in January, falling by 2,237 m-o-m and by 56,889 (17.2 percent) y-o-y. In terms of individual regions, the unemployment rate fell most significantly in the Trenčín region in January, as well as the other four regions also seeing reductions in their respective jobless rates. Among Slovakia’s 79 districts, the unemployment rate was down in 51 districts in January, while increases were found in 28 districts. Labour offices reported 38,363 job vacancies in late January, up by 3,079 m-o-m, added Valentovič.
