THE EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON UNEMPLOYMENT IN SLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY

• Published in: Journal of Management Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 25 - 35
• Main Authors: Ladislav, Mura, Anikó, Barcziová, Monika, Bálintová, Jenei, Szonja, Sylvia, Molnár, Szilvia Módosné, Szalai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lietuvos verslo kolegija 30.06.2022; Lithuania Business University of Applied Sciences
• Subjects: Health and medicine and law; Labor relations; labor market; territorial units; level of education; Covid19 pandemic; sectors of the economy; unemployment rate
• ISSN: 1648-7974; 2424-399X
• DOI: 10.38104/vadyba.2022.1.03

Covid-19 pandemic has affected almost in every aspect peoples‘ personal and professional lives. Employment losses have become an everyday occurrence during the pandemic period. As an outcome of the global coronavirus crisis of 2020, unemployment has risen significantly worldwide. In the article, we try to quantify the effect of coronavirus pandemic on the development of the unemployment and unemployment rate in two EU member states. The aim of the article is to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 crisis on the labor market in the Slovak Republic and Hungary. In order to highlight the impact of the pandemic and make comparisons between the mentioned countries, concretely comparative research method was used. Analyses are based on labor market data during the pandemic (2019-2021). Differences in unemployment by gender were examined based on annual data. Differences in unemployment by age, economic sectors and territorial units were analyzed on a quarterly basis. The results of the study indicate a noteworthy increase in the unemployment rate in the Slovak Republic and in Hungary during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of the coronavirus crisis, the spreading of unemployment in territorial terms has been more unbalanced for both the Slovak Republic and Hungary. Furthermore, we found that the highest unemployment rate during the considered time period was reached in the industrial sector. The pandemic has significantly impacted the unemployment of the economically active people with a lower level of education. In Slovakia have been introduced stricter anti-pandemic measures, due to which more business enterprises have closed. Also, it has led to more intensive growth of unemployment rate.