15.03.2022

REGISTERED UNEMPLOYMENT REMAINED LOW IN FEBRUARY

Registered unemployment in the country remained low at 4.9% in February, according to administrative statistics from the Employment Agency. Compared to the same month last year there was a decrease of 2.0 percentage points.

The number of unemployed in the labor offices in February was 159,906, which is 2,416 less than in the previous month and 65,375 or 29.0% less than a year earlier. In February, 19,407 new unemployed people registered, the number of which was 6,185 lower than in the previous month, and on an annual basis there was a decrease of 5,490 people. Another 445 people from the groups of jobseekers, students and retirees also registered with the Employment Agency during the month.

12,714 unemployed people found their new jobs in February. An increase of 829 persons is reported compared to January, and compared to the same month of the previous year they are 5 516 less. 164 people from the groups of pensioners, students and employees also found work through the labor offices.

The distribution of the unemployed who started working by sectors of the economy is as follows: 56.7% of those who started working in February were employed in the real economy, most of them employed in the manufacturing sector - 20.0%, followed by trade - 17.0%, hotels and restaurants - 8.3%, agriculture, forestry and fisheries - 5.7%, construction - 5.5%, government - 5.1% and others.

2,172 unemployed from the risk groups were employed in subsidized jobs during the month - 58 under employment programs and measures and 2,114 - under schemes of the Operational Program "Human Resources Development" (OP HRD). The HRD OP, which started in July 2020 as an anti-crisis measure, has provided employment to almost 52,000 unemployed people, and only in February employment contracts were concluded with 1,230 new unemployed.

Funding for the already well-known 60/40 anti-crisis measure continues. Thus, for the month of February alone, the applications of 1,776 employers for maintaining the employment of 37,200 employees were approved under this procedure.

The number of jobs advertised on the primary labor market in February was 13,076, or 1,288 more than in the previous month and 393 less than in the same month of 2021. The largest share of job vacancies in the real economy was in the manufacturing industry (24.1%), followed by hotels and restaurants (20.3%), trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (10.9%), administrative and support service activities (8.5%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (6.3%) and general government (6.1%).

The most sought-after professions during the month are: staff employed in the field of personal services; machine operators of stationary machines and equipment; sellers; drivers of motor vehicles and mobile equipment; workers in the mining and processing industry, construction and transport; staff caring for people; skilled workers in the production of food, clothing, wood products and related; waste collection and related workers; metallurgists, machine builders and related craftsmen; cleaners and helpers, etc.