UPDATE 1-Slovak jobless hits record low in November

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Slovakia's unemployment rate fell to a record low of 9.12 percent in November, from 9.27 percent in the previous month, data released by the National Labour Office showed on Friday.

It said 233,386 people were out of work but ready to start working in November, which is the base used for calculating the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate was expected to rise in December, but the long-term outlook remains positive, the Labour Office said.

"The year 2007 should...be a year of declining unemployment, but not an aggressive one," Jan Sihelsky, head of the Labour Office, told journalists.

The Slovak jobless rate has fallen steadily from around 20 percent four years ago after the centre-right government of ex-Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda took measures to crack down on abuses of the welfare system.

In addition, the creation of new jobs from billions of dollars in foreign direct investment, much of it in the booming automotive industry, has mopped up pools of labour.

The car industry investments include new factories by French PSA Peugeot Citroen and South Korean Kia Motors Corp. .

The car sector helped to push economic growth to a record 9.8 percent in the third quarter, taking the new European Union member into the ranks of the world's fastest growing nations, such as China or the Baltic states.

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]