Brussels, 28/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - On 26 November, Anna Diamantopoulou and Peter Magvasi, the Slovak Employment Minister, signed an agreed joint assessment of Slovakia's progress in preparing its jobs market for EU membership. The assessment has already been carried out in six other candidate countries, with Hungary being the last of them to date (see EUROPE 17 November). The assessment shows Slovakia succeeding in tough economic and restructuring challenges, as well as having incorporated the EU's social and economic acquis into its national statues. It points out, however, that further efforts are needed to reduce unemployment, (18.6% in 2000) twice as high as the level in the EU, and increase the rate of the working population (56.3% in 2000).