Every third newly registered unemployed person in our country since the beginning of the state of emergency has been from the restaurant, hotel or tourism sectors. The Employment Agency announced that it is about 30.6% of the submitted applications. The next most affected sector was trade – by 18.1% of the unemployed coming from there, followed by processing industry – by 15.6%.
The agency forecasts an increase in unemployment in the coming months, “Monitor” reported. The negative outlook was due to the expected dismissal of seasonal workers in the autumn from the tourism, manufacturing and agriculture sectors. This increase in unemployment in October-March was usually around 0.8–1.1% when the economy was growing, and 1-2.2% when the country was in recession.
Depending on the strength of the second COVID-19 wave, the autumn seasonal growth could exceed 1.5%. The most affected sectors would again be transport, trade, restaurants, sports, entertainment and culture. In order to mitigate the social consequences of this, training and employment programs and measures would continue to be implemented, especially for disadvantaged people.
There would be opportunities for subsidies for employers as well, through programs and preferences provided for hiring and training the unemployed people. They would financially support the unemployed to stimulate their mobility and entrepreneurship. They would continue to organize employer days, as well as job fairs, through the agency’s career centers. Specialized support would be provided for people with difficult access to the active labor market.
