UPSVaR: Unemployment Declined Last Year, but Increased Slightly in December

Bratislava, January 20 (TASR) - Unemployment measured by the share of available jobseekers of working age increased to 3.81 percent in December, growing slightly month-on-month by 0.08 percentage point (p.p.), but going down by 0.07 p.p. year-on-year, the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (UPSVaR) reported on Monday, adding that the data from the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry show that the number of jobseekers has been steadily decreasing over the past year. "The year 2024 was marked by a decline in unemployment. We even recorded the lowest levels of the number of unemployed people in the era of Slovakia's independence. I'm convinced that this was due in no small part to the projects from the Labour Ministry, which we launched systematically and in a targeted manner last year," said Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD), adding that this was most visible in the regions in eastern Slovakia, but also in the districts of Rimavska Sobota and Lucenec (Banska Bystrica region). Last year, the total number of jobseekers fell by 5,727, with the most significant decrease being registered by the labour offices in Kosice region (by 2,333 people) and in Presov region (by 2,283). Conversely, in Bratislava region, the number of job seekers grew by 793 last year. "The number of young people, as well as those of mature age, who were out of work fell noticeably over the course of last year. The number of the long-term unemployed on the register of job seekers or people with other disadvantages is also lower," added UPSVaR head Peter Ormandy. am/mcs