Unemployment in CR grows to 8.6 pct in Dec --ministry

Average registered unemployment in the whole of 2011 reached 8.6 percent and was 0.4 percentage point lower than in 2010.

The number of job seekers ready to start working immediately reached 491,958, which was 35,126 more than at end-November.

Unemployment grows regularly at the end of a year, the ministry´s spokeswoman Viktorie Plivova commented on the data.

In 2010, unemployment between November and December even grew by one percentage point. The ministry expects unemployment to grow further also this month - by roughly 0.3 percentage point.

The growth is given by the fact that in particular people who had a seasonal job come to labour offices, said CSOB analyst Petr Dufek, adding that this concerned, for example, services, agriculture and construction.

"Seen the popularity of fixed-time work contracts, December is the month when the ranks of unemployed grow," he added.

A month-on-month increase in unemployment was registered in 75 districts. The highest growth was in the district of Prachatice, southern Bohemia (24 percent).

The highest unemployment rate was in the district of Jesenik, northern Moravia (16.8 percent), and the lowest in Prague-east (3.3 percent).

The number of vacancies dropped by 1,048 to 35,784 on the month. Their number has been decreasing for the fourth month in a row.

There were 14.2 job applicants per vacancy on average, the highest number (70) in the district of Trebic, southern Moravia.

Author: ČTK
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