Unemployment slightly up in December 2014

The unemployment rate in Slovakia recorded a slight increase of 0.04 percentage points (p.p.) on a monthly basis to 12.29 percent in December 2014, Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (ÚPSVaR) General Director Marián Valentovič and Labour Minister Ján Richter announced on January 20. Year-on-year, the rate declined by 1.21 p.p. “I’m not surprised that we can view December as a month of stagnation,” Richter said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. He added that the Labour Ministry expected similar results based on its experience from previous years. He said that January 2015 will most probably also be a month of stagnation in terms of unemployment, with the first revival in the labour market expected in February and the spring. According to the latest unemployment figures, December 2014 saw 331,733 jobseekers immediately available to start work registered with job centres. This was a rise of 1,216 people, or 0.37 percent, m-o-m. Conversely, the figure was down by 32,492 people, or 8.92 percent, y-o-y. The figure calculated from the overall number of jobseekers including those who were not immediately available for work amounted to 13.85 percent in December. This was a monthly drop of 0.01 p.p. and a yearly fall of 0.93 p.p. There were 373,754 jobseekers registered with job centres in December. This represented a reduction of 264 people, or 0.07 percent, m-o-m, and a decrease of 25,122 people, or 6.3 percent, y-o-y, TASR wrote. The overall unemployment rate reached 12.79 percent for 2014; which was a drop of 1.32 p.p. year-on-year, Richter and Valentovič informed. Richter observed that the average unemployment rate for the whole of last year was approximately at 2010 levels. The minister also stated that favourable developments over the year were recorded in the unemployment rates for a number of the most vulnerable groups of people. One of these, young people aged up to 29, recorded a drop of 9,323 individuals between January and December 2014. When the entire year 2014 is taken into account, 345,149 jobseekers who were immediately available to start work were registered with job centres which represented a fall of 35,590 people or 9.35 percent y-o-y, according to the latest ÚPSVaR statistics. Moreover, the unemployment rate calculated from the overall number of jobseekers, including those who were not immediately available for work, stood at 14.29 percent, which was a drop of 1.09 p.p.