Unemployment as Factor of International Migration

Unemployment is a serious problem that troubles the majority of countries in the world. The big problem is particularly long-term unemployment. Slovak economy is trying to deal with this problem already for a long time. Despite of the pronounced decline of unemployment rate in recent years, the high long-term unemployment persists in Slovakia. The aim of the article is therefore to evaluate the causes of long-term unemployment in Slovakia and its impact on the economy and on the migration of the labor force in search of work abroad. On the basis of the results of our research, we have found that one of the causes of long-term unemployment is uneven distribution of industry and a poor quality and inadequate infrastructure. This is particularly the case for unemployment in the southern and eastern Slovakia. Unemployment in Slovakia, especially in the last period, negative influences a discrepancy in the structure of the qualification and profession of unemployed people and vacancies. Another reason for the relatively high unemployment is the large number of people with low levels of education, especially in the eastern part of Slovakia. The result of high unemployment in this region are low wages, which often don not encourage these people to work, even if they would have found the job vacancy. Another reason for unemployment is sometimes unwillingness of people to migrate between regions of Slovakia for the work or travel for the work to the more distant town. This is linked with the underdeveloped and inefficient functioning of the market for rental flats. Living outside of the region of residence (in Slovakia) in most cases is significantly more expensive and therefore is not worthwhile for the unemployed people to seek the work outside their region. Therefore, many people solve the problem of unemployment and low wages in the migration for work abroad. This includes people with a lower, but also with high qualifications, who are looking for better valuation of their labour.