Registered Unemployment Rate Stood at 4.97 percent in July

Bratislava, August 20 (TASR) - The registered unemployment rate in July stood at 4.97 percent, dropping by 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) year-on-year and remaining on the same level as in June, the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (UPSVR) reported on Tuesday. The number of jobseekers immediately able to start work at the end of June stood at 136,973, increasing by 347 m-o-m and falling by 13,295 y-o-y, which represents an 8.85-percent drop. The rate of unemployment calculated from the total number of jobseekers reached 6.07 percent, increasing by 0.03 p.p. m-o-m and decreasing by 0.53 p.p. y-o-y. The total number of jobseekers in June was 167,357, growing by 1,345 when compared to June and falling by 13,956 y-o-y, a drop of 7.70 percent. Monthly drops in unemployment rates were registered in four regions, most notably in Kosice region. Conversely, four regions saw increases in their monthly unemployment rates, with the steepest growth seen in Bratislava region. A total of 93,866 job vacancies were recorded at the end of July, which is an increase of 446 vacancies m-o-m. Bratislava region had the highest number and Banska Bystrica the lowest. Labour Minister Jan Richter (Smer-SD) stated that he's pleased to see that no significant negatives were observed on the labour market, adding that July 2019 is fully comparable with July 2018. According to him, the developments on the market in July don't confirm signals from the Finance Ministry and employers that a crisis is approaching. zel/df/am