Four Slovak districts have jobless rates exceeding 15%

Four out of Slovakia's 79 districts have their respective unemployment rates exceeding 15%, according to UniCredit Bank analyst Ľubomír Koršňák. The list includes the Rimavská Sobota and the Revúca districts in central Slovakia and Kežmarok and Rožňava districts in the East. The overall unemployment rate in the country was at 9.4% in July. The lowest rate was seen in the Western Slovak districts. In the Galanta district there are only 3.8% jobless people, in the Pieštany district 4.2% and 4.4% in the Bratislava-Petržalka district. Apart from notorious regional economic disparities in Slovakia, another major problem is long-term unemployment. Almost 148,000 people, i.e. half of all the jobless, were signed on at labour offices for more than one year in July.