Stats: Unemployment Rate Up to 5.4 percent in Third Quarter of This Year

Bratislava, 2 December (TASR) - The number of unemployed people in Slovakia amounted to 152,300 in the third quarter of this year, the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday. The unemployment rate in terms of the proportion of unemployed among the economically active population thus increased by 0.1 percentage points year-on-year (y-o-y) to 5.4 percent. The number of unemployed rose by 4,200 y-o-y, chiefly owing to growth in the number of short-term unemployed (out of work for less than a year). While there were almost 54,000 of them last year, their number rose to almost 58,000 people in the third quarter of 2025. The long-term unemployed (out of work for one year or more) remained the largest group in the structure of the unemployed, making up 62 percent of them, with their number unchanged y-o-y. Unemployed people who have never worked before continued to make up a significant proportion of jobless people. Even though their number fell by 10 percent y-o-y, it was still as high as 48,500. In the long term these are mainly young people under 34, including school-leavers. Some positive news is that their share of the overall structure of jobless people decreased from 38 percent last year to 32 percent. The regions reporting the highest levels of unemployment were Presov, Kosice and Banska Bystrica, with the number of jobless ranging from 28,000 to 41,000. Unemployment grew in five of the eight regions of Slovakia, most significantly in Kosice region (up 15 percent, or 4,600 individuals). Conversely, the number of unemployed dropped in three regions, with the most significant decline seen in Presov (down by 3,000 individuals). ko/df