THE STATISTICS Bureau reported that the average nominal monthly wage was Sk18,212 in the third quarter of this year, which is up 7.7 percent year-on year in nominal and 2.7 percent in real terms from the same period in 2005.
Meanwhile, the jobless rate in Slovakia, calculated from the total number of unemployed, dropped to an eight-year low in the third quarter of 12.8 percent, dipping by 73,400 people year-on-year to 341,600.
According to the Statistics Bureau, this was 2.8 percent lower year-on-year, and the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 1998.
The favourable developments on the labour market were due to growth in employment. On average, 2.321 million people were working in Slovakia in the third quarter of 2006. Of this figure, two million were employees, 217,000 were self-employed, and 68,000 were businesspeople with employees.
