Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)
Although more seasonal workers, mostly from the construction industry, usually come to labour offices at the start of the year to be registered as unemployed, their number was lower this January than in the past.
Labour offices registered 13.2 percent, or 2,900, less jobless people compared to last year.
“After taking the traditional season into account, the lowest number of the new unemployed were registered in January,” Ľubomír Koršňák, analyst with UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, wrote in a memo, adding this is 8 percent less than the average in 2019.
This was not caused by a smaller number of construction workers coming to labour offices because they are active in the construction industry in wintertime, though. Instead, the year-on-year decrease seems to have been caused by the slower transition from economic inactivity to economic activity, Koršňák added.
Economic growth plays a role
The unemployment rate in January grew at a slower pace than expected. It rose by 0.06 percentage points to 4.98 percent. The year-on-year decline in unemployment thus increased after a long time, from 0.11 to 0.28 percentage points, or to 7,000 unemployed, according to the data of the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (ÚPSVaR).
Excluding seasonal effects, unemployment rose to 4.92 percent in January.
