There were 30,294 more people without jobs in January than the month before, bringing Slovakia's jobless rate up one percentage point to a record 20.85 per cent. The rate is marginally higher than in January 2001.
Nationwide, 563,946 people were without jobs; Košice region was the hardest hit, at 27.92 per cent, while even the wealthy Bratislava region saw a moderate increase to 6.87 per cent.