Both the number of jobless people and the unemployment rate fell to all-time lows in the second quarter of 2024, with the unemployment rate decreasing by 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) year-on-year (y-o-y) to 5.2 percent, the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday.
The number of jobless people in Slovakia stood at 142,700 in the second quarter, down by 9.6 percent y-o-y. After seasonal adjustments, the number of unemployed declined by 4.5 percent from the previous quarter to 146,300.
The unemployment rate, expressed as a ratio of the number of unemployed to the number of economically active individuals, stood at 5.2 percent. This is a record-low figure, stated the Statistics Office.
The majority, over 64 percent of the unemployed, were long-term unemployed, i.e. people without a job for 12 months or more. Their number fell by 12.4 percent y-o-y to below the threshold of 100,000 (92,200) for the first time in three years. Short-term unemployment decreased by 3.8 percent to 50,500 people. The number of unemployed declined in all age categories except the category of people up to 24 years.
When it came to the most recent sector in which they were employed, the number of unemployed shrank in nine of the 16 monitored sectors. More than one third of unemployed (over 51,000) were people who had never worked before (this group also includes school-leavers).
In the first half of 2024, meanwhile, the number of jobless people went down by 9.2 percent to stand at 148,700. The unemployment rate declined by 0.5 p.p. to 5.4 percent in 1H24.
Source: TASR
