Slovak January jobless rate rises to 9.45 pct

    Slovakia's unemployment rate 
edged up to 9.45 percent in January, backing further away from 
record lows as corporate layoffs and seasonal factors hit, the 
Labour Office said on Tuesday. 
    The jobless rate had fallen steadily to a record low of 9.12 
percent in November from around 20 percent four years ago after 
the former centre-right government cracked down on abuses of the 
welfare system. 
    But it stood at 9.4 percent in December and moved slightly 
higher last month in a trend that will continue, officials said. 
    "We expect a slight increase in the jobless rate in 
February. We see the biggest risk now in massive layoffs," 
Vladimir Hasko, the office's research director, told a news 
conference.  
    He did not comment on where those layoff risks lay. 
    The office said 245,635 people were out of work but ready to 
start working in January, which is the base used for calculating 
the unemployment rate. 
    The creation of new jobs from billions of dollars in foreign 
direct investment, mainly in the flourishing automotive 
industry, has mopped up Slovakia's shallow labour pool. 
    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 European Union 
member into the ranks of the world's fastest growing nations. 
 

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]