BRATISLAVA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The number of unemployed people in Slovakia increased by 8,300 to 152,800 in the second quarter of this year, the Slovak Statistics Office said on Wednesday, adding that unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage point year-on-year to 5.6 percent.
Long-term unemployed people, defined as those out of work for at least one year, continued to account for the majority of the unemployed, representing 65 percent of the total. Their number increased by 9.6 percent year-on-year, approaching 100,000.
Among the unemployed, the largest proportions had previously worked in industry, retail and construction sectors, accounting for 19.3 percent, 9.1 percent and 7.8 percent respectively. Industry recorded the largest year-on-year increase in the number of unemployed, with 6,200 more people out of work, followed by construction, which saw an increase of 3,700.
The regions with the highest number of unemployed were Banska Bystrica, Kosice and Presov. Their unemployment rates ranged from 8.4 percent to 9.8 percent. The three regions accounted for almost two thirds of all unemployed people in Slovakia. ■