Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)
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The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on Slovakia’s labour market, although it was mitigated by the measures adopted by the government.
The unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2020 rose by 14.7 percent year-on-year, which was the most significant growth since 2010. The number of unemployed amounted to 177,800 in absolute terms, up by 22,800 persons, according to the Labour Force Sample Survey.
Such a sharp increase was last recorded 10 years ago, in the second quarter of 2010 when the number of unemployed increased by 28.5 percent y-o-y, the Statistics Office reported on September 4.
At the same time, the current unemployment rate rose by 0.9 percentage points y-o-y to 6.6 percent, thus reaching the level of the 2Q of 2018. Compared with the 1Q of 2020, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 14,300 (or by 8.7 percent) to 178,400 persons.
“The labour market was not spared by the pandemic, but the negative impact of COVID-19 was moderated, also by the state measures to protect jobs,” Katarína Muchová, an analyst with Slovenská Sporiteľňa, wrote in a memo. “The unemployment rate was still better than expected, which is a positive risk for the year-round labour market estimate.”
