The Slovak unemployment rate stood at its lowest level in the past two years, down from 6.67% in March to 6.54% in April, the Labour Office reported. In year-on-year terms, it decreased by 1.46 percentage points (pp).

The number of jobs offered rose to 86,768 as a result of the ongoing economic recovery. The total number of registered jobseekers in April reached 193,409. Labour offices registered 88,066 long-term unemployed people, the lowest figure in the past 13 months.

"These are very encouraging figures. More significant than the numbers themselves is the trend that has been established. Unemployment has been falling for three months in a row. At the same time, the number of job vacancies is rising steadily," said Labour Minister Milan Krajniak, noting that almost two and a half billion euros were used to maintain jobs from the state budget.

"We have taken care to make the best use of all the valuable experience from the pandemic period," the minister added.

The number of unemployed people decreased in all regions of Slovakia, the most  in the Nitra region, where unemployment dropped from 4.65% in March to 4.44% in April.

According to the office forecast, the downward trend in unemployment could be sustained in the near future. "Despite difficult conditions in the form of war and rising inflation, the labour market is resilient and continues to strengthen. According to our forecasts, favourable developments could continue in the coming months. The same conclusions are also provided by the recently published spring forecast of the European Commission, which also takes into account the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine," explained Matus Baliak, an analyst at the Social Policy Institute. 

He identified the war in Ukraine, rising commodity prices and inflation as the biggest risks for the coming months. However, the development of unemployment may be positively influenced by the arrival of the summer months, postponed household consumption from the pandemic period and more intensive use of EU funds and resources from the Slovak Recovery Plan.