Zamestnanosť a hospodársky vývoj v Slovenskej republike
EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Summary/Abstract: In 1999 the performance of the SR economy for the first time returned to the level achieved during the last pre-transformation year (1989). However, the pre-transformation level of employment was not met – in 1999 was 15 % less than 10 years ago. Structural parameters and the overall character of (non) sustainability of a note-worthy economic growth in 1994–1998 did not create any significant and long-lasting stimulus to boost employment. The mass economic and political change towards the necessary stabilization of both internal and external macro-economic imbalance has since 1999 till today deteriorated the difficult situation on the labour market and the rate of unemployment, at least from a short and long-term period. The slow rate of the economic growth from 1996 till 1999 is evident if we compare the value added growth and unemployment in selected industries. A faster growth in value added to compare the employment growth, regarding both primary and secondary sectors, can be considered as a trend common in all market economies. It is a bad sur-prise to see that a relatively fast growing value added in the service sector, which in 1996–1998 represented the major source of the GDP growth, was not accompanied by a corres-ponding increase in the employment in the service sector. Changed production structure in industry sector at the same time weakened the industries that are more work demanding, and on the other side, strengthened the indus-tries that need high energy and raw materials. An overview on the Slovak foreign trade balance development covering industrially processed goods by production factors is supporting our statement. A positive balance of the Slovak foreign trade was recorded predominantly in the group of goods demanding high raw materials input. Before 1998 the foreign trade achieved a positive balance also in the group of goods demanding high labour, in 1998 the situation changed. However, still less positive balance trading the above mentioned goods was visible also during the years before. The increased share of sophisticated commodities in the foreign trade structure should understood at the most important direction in the structural and export policy of the Slovak Republic. This is the only way how to decrease the high dependency of the Slovak economy on imported raw materials and energies, and at the same time to pre-pare conditions to level existing big differences between unit values in exports and im-ports. In kilogram prices it means that for 1 kg in exports we get 1 USD, on the other side, for 1 kg of imports we pay 3 USD. This is the way how to increase the growth in export sector which could mightily increase the total potential of the internal economy including the potential for employment improvement. A dramatic lag behind in wages to compare the level reached in 1989 has been mainly used to support (principally justified) requests for faster wage increase.

• Details
• Contents