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Thousands Dropping Off Unemployment Benefit Rolls and onto Welfare
Monday 22 March 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, March 22 (TASR) - Thousands of people have seen their unemployment benefits lapse recently, but not because they have found new jobs, according to analysts.
While the crisis emerged in September 2008, most layoffs took place in early 2009, with the unemployment benefits (amounting to 50 percent of the last salary) set to be paid during a period of six months only. Then, the unemployed are eligible for social allowances.
According to state-owned social insurer Socialna Poistovna (SP), 48,056 people drew the unemployment benefits in February 2010, a 15,439-person decline in comparison with August 2009. "The number of people on benefits has dropped because most of them were sacked in early 2009. Hence, there are fewer and fewer people still eligible for unemployment benefits these days," UniCredit Bank analyst David Derenik told TASR. He added that the people in question now suffer even more, with unemployment benefits taken away from them and the basic social benefit at slightly more than €60 a month.
There are estimates that the economy will grow. "However, the slow pace of economic revival doesn't represent any guarantee that new jobs will be created on a broader scale," TASR was told by Volksbank Slovakia analyst Vladimir Vano.
According to him, the companies are able to satisfy increasing demand by raising the work productivity of existing employees, without the need to hire new ones. "This holds true in particular with firms that are still struggling with the problem of unused production capacities," said Vano. New job opportunities should come with direct foreign investments and the subsequent creation of new production capacities.
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