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Ministry: No.of job seekers in CR in October lowest since June 2009 /11. 11. 2011/
Prague - Czech unemployment decreased in October to 7.9 percent from 8 percent in September and employment offices registered 470,618 job seekers, the lowest number since June 2009, the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry said today.
The number of the unemployed went down by 4,497 on the month. The number of vacancies dropped as well, the ministry said. The number of the registered unemployed decreased by 24,543 on an annual basis. As many as 451,968 job seekers were ready to work immediately, down by 6,188 on the month and by 30,752 on the year.
"The October jobless rate has not been worsening for the 14th year running," Citfin analyst Tomas Volf has said. The last time it increased was in the year 1997. The jobless rate higher than the national average was seen for 43 districts. The highest rate was registered in Most, 15 percent, and in Bruntal, 14.3 percent. Prague-east had the lowest rate of 3.3 percent. Fifty-seven districts reported a drop in employment on the month. Pelhrimov showed the biggest drop of 3.9 percent.
Employment offices registered 38,732 vacancies at end-Oct, which represented a decrease of 1,063 compared to September. There were 12.2 job seekers per vacancy on average. Decin had the biggest rate of 42.5 job seekers per vacancy. The number of vacancies is falling for the second straight month.
There were 52,461 newcomers at employment offices in October, 17,996 fewer than in September. A total of 56,958 persons were removed from the files, 19,919 fewer on the month. Of the amount, 36,289 people found a job, a month-on-month drop of 8,458. As many as 20,669 job seekers were removed from the files, with no job found. There were 35,667 school graduates and youths in October, up by 354 on the month and down by 2,460 on the year. They accounted for 7.6 percent of the total number of the unemployed people.
No.of Czech job seekers down but no reason to rejoice - analysts
Czech unemployment fall in October is not a very good piece of news despite the fact that the number of the registered unemployed hit the lowest level since June 2009, analysts polled by CTK have said.
The drop in the jobless rate was not big, and moreover the number of vacancies went down, they added. They expect the number of job seekers to rise again in the months to come. Unemployment decreased in October to 7.9 percent from 8 percent in September and employment offices registered 470,618 job seekers, the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry said today. The number of the unemployed went down by 4,497 on the month.
"It is not such a positive result as it might seem at first sight," said UniCredit Bank chief economist Pavel Sobisek. October is usually one of the strongest months of the year from a point of view of working activities. Greater participation of job seekers in retraining courses this year and also the fact that a higher number of the unemployed was removed from the files, without finding a job, is behind the drop in the jobless rate, said Sobisek.
Next Finance analyst Vladimir Pikora shares this opinion. In 1999 to 2009, the rate of unemployment in October had been falling by an average 0.2 percentage point on the month and so the drop of 0.1 point this October is a below-average decline showing a weak performance of the economy. Seasonal work in agriculture is behind the unemployment decrease, said Pikora.
Analysts emphasised the fact that the number of vacancies went down in October for the second consecutive month, by 2.7 percent to 38,732, while in Jan to Aug it has been rising. There were 12.2 job seekers per vacancy in October on average.
"This figure will certainly not decrease in the coming months, just the opposite," said Miroslav Novak of Akcenta CZ. Unemployment may be approaching the 9 percent level in the months ahead, according to him.
A similar view is held by Michal Brozka of Raiffeisenbank. "Bad things have already happened in the euro zone and we´ll see their impacts in the forthcoming months," he said, adding that the labour market is usually responding to such things with a delay.
Source: Financninoviny.cz, 08.11.2011. Full article can be found here.
