In the present paper, we analyse the determinants of employment growth in V4 countries. While a standard approach relies on the parametric estimation of labour elasticity coefficients, we employ a novel approach based on structural decomposition analysis. This allows us to identify several determinants which mitigate the effects of economic growth on employment. We decompose the overall change in employment into the contribution of six factors: changes in labour productivity, changes in the import of intermediate products, changes in the structure of production, changes in the final demand structure by industries and by sectors, and a change in final demand volume. We show that besides the generally accepted influence of labour productivity growth on employment, other factors such as structural changes and changes in final demand played an important role in employment changes. These results shed some light on low labour elasticity in V4 countries and go beyond the simple labour productivity growth argument.

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The paper examines why the pandemic recession hit the labour market in Slovakia differently from previous recessions. Traditionally, the unemployment rose sharply during previous economic recessions. Therefore, it seemed like a novelty when the unemployment rate rose only insignificantly in a pandemic recession. We find that both the demand and supply side of the labour market played their role in it. Labour demand has been affected differently compared to the past: Instead of the usual sharp increase in unemployment during a recession, the rate of utilization of workers’ time capacities fell, with expected impacts also on income differentiation. This is in line with the way more advanced European economies have responded to recessions before. In addition, a new element was also present on the labour force supply side. In previous recessions, the labour force supply had been rising; in the recent pandemic recession, it fell for the first time.