Beneficiaries eligible for unemployment benefits in Slovakia dropped slightly in April on a monthly basis. The country’s social security provider, Sociálna Poisťovňa, paid unemployment assistance to 48,400 people in the fourth month of 2010, which was a decrease of 300 persons from the previous month, the SITA newswire wrote.
In a year-on-year comparison the number of beneficiaries increased by 1,200. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits grew for nine months in a row from nearly 23,400 in November 2008 to a five-year high of 63,500 in August 2009, the insurer told SITA.
Easier eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits will take effect in September this year. In line with the amendment to the Act on Employment Services that President Ivan Gašparovič signed into law in February, unemployed people who have been paying unemployment insurance for two of the past three years will be eligible for unemployment benefits. Currently, at least three years of unemployment insurance in the last four years are necessary to be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Source: 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.
