The unemployment rate in Slovakia in February stood at 8.5 percent, after having risen continuously since September, central bank (NBS) analysts reported on Monday. The February unemployment rate is thus at its highest since mid-2017. UniCredit Bank analyst L'ubomir Koršňák believes that the unemployment rate won't return to below 5 percent before the second half of 2023. Nonetheless, he noted that support schemes for businesses and, in particular, more resilience in industry during the second wave of the pandemic have resulted in the current growth of unemployment being less dramatic than in the first wave.
"February saw a reduction in the flow of new jobless to labour offices, but at the same time the market was also less able to absorb the newly unemployed. Relatively few people lost jobs in industry, the public sector, some segments of the tertiary economic sector, sales, IT and finance. Conversely, more jobless people signing on at labour offices came from the hospitality sector," said Koršňák .
