Economy, Labor

The unemployment rate in Slovakia has been 10 percent or higher since the end of Communist rule; in 2000 unemployment averaged 18.9 percent. The service sector, which has developed very quickly since 1989, employs 54 percent of the labor force. Some 39 percent works in industry, and 7 percent is employed in agriculture. Labor unions are not as important as they were during the Communist period. However, sizable numbers of workers and employees continue to belong to unions because of the benefits they provide. The largest union in Slovakia is the Engineering and Metal Union, which was founded in April 1993 to replace the Czechoslovak Trade Union of Metal Workers.