The unemployment rate went down to 10.39 percent in the first month of this year. "The core of the unemployment fall in January was again brought by a better labour market reflecting the relatively good condition of the domestic and European economies. The relatively successful placing of the unemployed on the labour market was noticeable, too. As many as 19,000 unemployed managed to find a job in January, which is the best January result to be reported since 2007", said Ľubomír Koršňák, an analyst for UniCredit Bank. He added, however, that these better figures can also be ascribed to the Labour Office's methodology in reporting the unemployed. According to statistics used by it, the economically active population has grown by almost 20,000 over the past year, even though the number of people of productive age in Slovakia is decreasing. "The economic activity rate was thereby growing last year, meaning that part of the economically inactive population has switched to the economically active population. However, the demographic trend indicates that developments like this should be rather exceptional in the years to come and that changes in the economically active population are more likely to worsen than improve the unemployment rate in the future", said Koršňák.
Figures on the number of available jobs, however, confirm robust developments on the labour market. "The numbers are still high, while the December deceleration in the number of new available jobs wasn't visible in January, and increases generally seen in the second half of last year returned", read a statement of Slovak Central Bank's analytical department.
