The average number of jobless people in Slovakia for the whole of 2025 reached almost 150,000, up by 1.2 percent, or 1,800 people year-on-year (y-o-y), the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points (p.p.) y-o-y to 5.4 percent in 2025.
Concerning the structure of unemployed, the long-term unemployed continued to dominate, accounting for 63 percent of the total figure, although their number decreased by 1.1 percent y-o-y in 2025. Meanwhile, almost one third of all unemployed people were those who had never worked before (including school leavers), but statisticians noted that their number (46,600 individuals) was the lowest since 2021.
The number of jobless people increased in five of Slovakia's eight regions in 2025, with three of them even recording double-digit growth, namely Nitra, Banska Bystrica and Bratislava regions. In absolute terms, the biggest rise in the number of unemployed (2,400 individuals) was reported in Banska Bystrica region. Meanwhile, a positive trend was seen in Prešov region, where the number of unemployed fell by 0.5 p.p. Despite this, the region still had the highest number of unemployed people, at 40,000. It was followed by the Košice region with 33,000 unemployed and Banska Bystrica region with 26,000 jobless. These three regions also posted the highest unemployment rates, ranging from 10.1 percent to 8.3 percent.
Bratislava region continues to enjoy the lowest unemployment rate over the long term, standing at 2.5 percent last year. Žilina, Trenčín, Trnava and Nitra regions were also below the country-wide average of 5.4 percent.
Source: TASR
