The unemployment rate in Slovakia stood at the historically lowest level of 6.7% in July, according to the data provided by the Labour Ministry presented last week. The number represents a decline by 0.2 percentage points (p.p.) month-on-month and by 2.74 p.p. year-on-year. However, the unemployment rate calculated from the total number of jobseekers reached 7.91%, said Marián Valentovič, general director of the Labour Ministry's headquarters. "In terms of historical development, I'm glad that we've reached the under 8-percent threshold for the first time. It's pleasing that Eurostat has also noted with regards to the previous month that the unemployment rate Slovakia was below the EU average in June," said Labour Minister Ján Richter, adding that unemployment among young people keeps falling as well. According to Valentovič, the number of jobseekers immediately able to take up a job was almost 183,000 in July, a decrease of over 5,200 individuals m-o-m and of almost 74,000 y-o-y, Furthermore, the total number of jobseekers reached over 215,000 in July.
As for the individual regions, six out of the eight regions in Slovakia recorded a decrease in the unemployment rate in July, with the Prešov region seeing the most significant drop. The highest number of jobs available was in the Bratislava region and the lowest was in the Košice region. On a district level, the unemployment rate was down in 60 districts in Slovakia in July, while an increase was recorded in 19 districts.
According to Ľubomír Koršňák, analyst of UniCredit Bank, unemployment could have been lower, but Slovakia lacks qualified people. Employers are continuously decreasing their requirements on candidates. Some of them import labour force from Serbia, Romania and Ukraine. These candidates do not have higher qualification than the local ones, but are willing to travel to work due to a higher wage differential.
