Jobless rate slightly up, due to graduates

THOUGH the unemployment rate increased slightly in September, it still remains at a six-year low.

Illustrative stock photoIllustrative stock photo (Source: TASR)

The jobless rate amounted to 11.38 percent in September, up by 0.06 percentage points month-on-month. In annual terms it  decreased, however, by 1.06 percentage points, according to the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (ÚPSVaR).

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Labour offices registered a total of 307,054 people ready to take a job immediately, which is 1,867 more than in August. Compared to September 2014, the number dropped by 28,666 people.

The total number of the unemployed amounted to 12.95 percent (i.e. 349,137 people), which is 0.09 percentage points (2,166 people) more than in August, and 1.06 percentage points (28,883 people) less than in September 2014.

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The rise in the number of jobless was impacted by the graduates from secondary schools, which is similar to previous years, said Ľubomír Koršňák, analyst with UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia.

“Though their number dropped by nearly one-third to 9,200 year-on-year, they were the main reason for the September increase in unemployment,” he wrote in a memo.

The September data confirmed the trend of previous months as the decline in the number of unemployed slowed down compared to spring. Particularly the number of jobseekers who found work decreased, according to Koršňák.

“Despite this slight increase we are still at six-year low when it comes to the unemployment development,” Labour Minister Ján Richter said, as quoted by the SITA newswire, “while regarding the number of new jobs we are at a seven-year high.”

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The number of new jobs created in September amounted to 19,000 in September, according to the state-run social insurer Sociálna Poisťovňa. This trend is also confirmed by other institutions, like the National Bank of Slovakia and the Eurostat statistics office, Richter added.

The current situation in the Slovak labour market is affected by the worse mood among Slovak industry, negatively influenced by the Greek crisis escalation or fear from the Chinese economic slowdown, Koršňák said.

“We expect that the rising economy will continue creating room for opening new jobs and after seasonal adjustments unemployment will slightly decrease in following months,” Koršňák wrote in his memo. The drop may be slowed down by the structure of the jobless, among which the long-term unemployed without necessary experience and people without required qualification will prevail.

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