The current drop in unemployment is being primarily caused by a cyclical revival in the economy, said UniCredit Bank analyst Ľubomír Koršňák, reacting to the 5.9 percent unemployment rate reported for December by the Labour Ministry. "The growing economy should be capable of generating new jobs even in the months to come and should squeeze down unemployment to new all-time low figures. However, it still holds that in most Slovak regions (particularly western Slovakia) it isn't a lack of jobs that prevents a more pronounced drop in unemployment but an unfavourable structure of job applicants. We estimate that even in January unemployment could hover at a level closely below 6 percent," he said.
Meanwhile the Labour Minister Jan Richter (Smer-SD) has admitted that importing a foreign labour force is a necessity at least for companies in Western Slovakia. Out of approximately 70,000 current vacancies, around 10 percent could be filled by foreigners. The Labour Ministry works on drafting a list of jobs for which there is a deficiency of candidates and, will prepare measures for speeding the process of importing foreigners.Almost 50,000 foreigners worked in Slovakia in late 2017, according to Richter. More than half of them are EU citizens but when it comes to nationalities, Serb workers are on top. Most foreigners live in the Bratislava, Trnava and Nitra regions. Recent labour legislation amendment pushes for equal treatment of local and foreign labour force in terms of pay and working conditions.
