Economic indicators paradigm on the labour market in Lithuania and Slovakia

Abstract

Labour markets in the EU have been profoundly changed. Recently, unemployment rates have declined due to the economic recovery. The economic growth that Europe has been enjoying is extremely labour-intensive. Statistical data show that unemployment has been falling for several consecutive years. Labour markets of the former Eastern European countries are attractive for investors for their skilled labour and low cost of labour. Nevertheless, there are processes and phenomena occurring which can have damaging consequences to the labour markets. The present study compares current trends in the Slovak and Lithuanian labour market. Since the existing analyses usually address economic situation in the V4 countries, Baltic countries or compare their performance with developed EU countries, the originality of the paper lies in comparing the selected economic indicators on the Slovak and Lithuanian labour markets. The purpose of the study is to analyse and compare selected macroeconomic indicators of individual countries, to find paradigms of development on the labour market and to predict development forecasts in individual macroeconomic indicators. The authors' research revealed that longterm sustainable growth in the labour market is secured in both countries, based on the analysis of the development of indicators affecting the labour market. A polynomial model and the moving average model are used for the analysis. The arrival of the new crisis could stop this growth, but the countries have learned from the last crisis. Therefore, they are gradually making decisions to alleviate the consequences.