Stats: Unemployment Rate Rose Slightly to 4.42 percent in January

Bratislava, 20 February (TASR) - Unemployment rose slightly at the beginning of the year, with the share of available jobseekers in the working-age population reaching 4.42 percent in January 2026, up by 0.33 percentage points on the previous month, the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (UPSVaR) reported on Friday. The total number of registered jobseekers reached 176,838, in line with the trend typical of January when a month-on-month increase has been recorded in 21 cases since 2000. Analysts from the Social Policy Institute stated that while an increase between December and January is quite common, the current slight rise also reflects a combination of cyclical and global factors. In the months to come, they expect unemployment rate to stabilise, with a slight improvement possible during the spring. In terms of regions, the lowest unemployment rate was recorded in the Bratislava region, at 2.89 percent, while the highest rate was reported for the Presov region, at 6.74 percent. jrg