UNEMPLOYMENT in December 2013 stood at 13.5 percent, staying put when compared to November 2013, while falling 0.94 percentage points year-on-year, Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Ján Richter announced at a press conference on January 21.
“The number of jobseekers immediately available for work in December 2013 stood at 364,225. On a yearly basis, this represented a drop of 25,886, or 6.64 percent,” Richter said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
In addition, the unemployment rate calculated from all jobseekers was 14.78 percent in December 2013, 0.98 percentage points lower than in December 2012. In all, 398,876 people were registered as jobseekers at job centres in December 2013.
In reaction to the statistics, Prime Minister Robert Fico said the government’s goal is to reduce unemployment in Slovakia to the average rate seen in the eurozone by 2016. In December, unemployment in the eurozone hovered around 12 percent, according to Fico, TASR reported.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports
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