Jobless rate in Q1 drops to 10.5 percent

The Statistics Office informed the SITA newswire that compared with the first quarter of last year, the number of unemployed fell 7.4 percent to 280,500. The average rate of unemployment thus decreased in the first quarter of 2008 by 1 percentage point to 10.5 percent.

The Statistics Office informed the SITA newswire that compared with the first quarter of last year, the number of unemployed fell 7.4 percent to 280,500. The average rate of unemployment thus decreased in the first quarter of 2008 by 1 percentage point to 10.5 percent.

The drop in unemployment was chiefly influenced by those who last worked in industry, decreasing by 9,800 persons, and the unemployed who haven't yet had jobs, down by 5,000. The number of unemployed with unidentified last jobs dipped 3,500, while the number of jobs seekers who last worked in the farm and fisheries sector decreased by 2,400. The number of job seekers, who last worked in the real estate and rental sector fell by 1,900 and in hotels and restaurants by 1,500. On the other hand, the number of unemployed with their last jobs in trade grew by 2,000, in the construction sector 800, in financial intermediation by 600 and education sector by 100 persons.

Regarding the length of unemployment, it was long-term unemployment that reported the biggest drop. The number of unemployed people for more than one year fell by 23,000 to 196,600 and their share represented 70.1 percent of all job seekers. Development on the Slovak labour market in the first quarter of this year was characterized by growth in employment in the national economy. It grew 2.8 percent year-on-year to 2,391,300 persons. The number of employees rose 41,900 to 2,063,300, businesspeople without employees by 19,600 to 240,800, businesspeople with employees by 6,700 to 78,100, and assisting members of businesspeople's households by 1,800 to 2,900.

In the first quarter of this year, Slovakia had almost 28,600 free jobs on average, up 44.1 percent year-on-year. Employers in the public administration, defense and compulsory social security had over 8,800 free jobs while 6,000 jobs were available in industry. The Statistics Office reported almost 3,600 free jobs on average in the wholesale and retail sectors, maintenance of vehicles and motorcycles and consumer goods. In construction, 2,100 jobs were available.

The biggest number of free jobs of over 14,700 was in the Bratislava Region, while the smallest number of available jobs were registered in the Košice and Prešov regions. However, all regions but Prešov reported a year-on-year increase in free jobs throughout the first quarter of this year. SITA

Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.

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