The unemployment rate in Slovakia dropped on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of 2013 following a long period of year-on-year rises, the Slovak Statistics Office (ŠÚ) announced March 5.
The number of jobless dropped by 1 percent on a y-o-y basis to 386,600 in the final quarter of 2013. The unemployment rate among women fell by 0.9 percentage points in the fourth quarter, while that of men went up by 0.4 percentage points, the TASR newswire quoted the ŠÚ. The number of unemployed, after seasonal adjustments, stood at 382,600 individuals in what was a drop of 5,000 people compared to the previous quarter.
The long-term unemployed (those without jobs for more than a year) accounted for the largest share - 68.4 percent - of people out of work. Their number increased by 4.3 percent on a quarterly basis to 264,500 in the Q4 of 2013. Those out of work for more than two years made up 74.8 percent of all long-term unemployed. In terms of age, there were 120,900 unemployed people between 25-34 years of age, accounting for 31.3 percent of all jobless people.
The number of jobless dropped in four of Slovakia’s eight regions - ranging from a cut of 12.4 percent in Košice region to a fall of 1.7 percent in Prešov region. Meanwhile, the number of jobless increased the most - by 13.7 percent on a y-o-y basis - in the Bratislava region. Prešov and Banská Bystrica regions accounted for the largest shares of the jobless - 18.5 and 18.1 percent, respectively. These two regions also recorded the highest jobless rates - 20.5 percent in Banská Bystrica region and 18.4 percent in Prešov region.
For the whole of 2013, unemployment increased by 2.3 percent, year-on-year, to 386,600. The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 p.p. to 14.2 percent.
(Source: TASR, ŠÚ)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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