ABSTRACT
Unemployment is a worldwide problem. In the territory of the Slovak Republic, unemployment has been decreasing since 2013 with minimal fluctuations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped this trend. Since March, unemployment began to gradually increase, which resulted in the reaction of the government of the Slovak Republic, which issued aid through First Aid, First Aid +, and First Aid ++. The aim of our research is to examine the development of unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the government responded to this development with measures through the First Aid, First Aid +, and First Aid ++ packages. In the article, we used the methods of graphic display, deduction, synthesis, and induction. We found that the most funds were provided by the government during February 2021, while the most supported places were in April 2020. During the second wave of the pandemic, it was at the turn of March and April when unemployment reached 7.98%. The data shows that unemployment in eastern Slovakia is the worst in the entire country.