Slovak unemployment rate under 10 pct for first time in 7 years

The unemployment rate in Slovakia fell under 10 percent in March for the first time in seven years, an official announced Wednesday.

"The unemployment rate stood at 9.89 percent in March, representing a decrease of 0.20 percentage points month-on-month, and a drop of 2.17 percentage points year-on-year," said the director of the Slovak labor, social affairs and the family center, Marian Valentovic.

According to the official, the number of job seekers actively looking for work was 268,559 in March. Month-on-month, the number went down by 5,643 and 56,612 year-on-year.

"We recorded a decrease in all risk groups, such as job seekers under 29 and job seekers over 50 years," said Valentovic.

An analyst at UniCredit Bank Lubomir Korsnak pointed out that the Slovak economy has showed a strong ability to create new jobs.

"The growing economy should be able to generate new jobs in the next months as well. Thus, we expect that unemployment will continue its gradual decline," said the analyst, but added, "we are lacking enough qualified workforce and this is a problem."

Out of all 79 districts in Slovakia, the unemployment rate went down in 70 districts and rose in the remaining nine. The highest rate, 26.9 percent was recorded in Rimavska Sobota, Central Slovakia, while the lowest was in Bratislava District 5 at 4.27 percent. Endit