Employment rose slightly in the summer mainly due to positive growth in services, but it dropped mainly in the manufacturing sectors
The number of employees in the 3rd quarter increased year-on-year in half of the 18 monitored sectors of the economy. The decrease in the labor force was reflected in the manufacturing sectors, especially in industry. However, total employment continued increasing due to higher number of employees in several service sectors. Employment increased year-on-year in 6 out of 8 SR regions.
During the 3rd quarter of 2024, 2 617 000 people were employed or self-employed in Slovakia. The number of employees1) thus remained almost unchanged year-on-year. There were by 6.5 thousand employees more in the labor market, which represented a slight year-on-year increase in employment1) of 0.3%. At the same time, after seasonal adjustment, employment decreased by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter to the level of less than 2 million 616 thousand workers.
It was confirmed by the results of the Labor Force Selection Survey (LFSS)2) conducted during the 3rd quarter of this year.
The employment rate3) in Slovakia reached 77.9% and it was higher by 0.5 percentage points year-on-year (p.p.). The employment rate indicator expresses the share of employees from the total number of economically active population.
The final year-on-year growth was mainly due to an increase of 14 000 people working in services and a decrease of more than 7 000 people in the manufacturing sector. The number of employees increased year-on-year in a total of 9 out of 18 monitored sectors of the economy.
Developments in labor market structures
The slightly unfavorable development in the manufacturing sectors was mainly due to the year-on-year decrease in the number of employees in industry by -1.3% (by 8.8 thousand persons). Industry is the sector that employs the majority of people in Slovakia, currently almost 643 000 people in the 3rd quarter. Similarly, the number of employees in agriculture decreased by 8.2 thousand people (-12.9%). On the contrary, the workforce in construction rose by 9.7 thousand people year-on-year (+3.7%).
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The largest number, up to 63% of the total number of employees in the SR, traditionally worked in services, which represented almost 1 million 647 thousand persons. Their number increased only slightly year-on-year, but this was enough to maintain a moderate growth in total employment. However, the development in the individual sectors that belong to services was very fluctuating. On the one hand, we recorded a dynamic increase in information and communications by almost 19% (+ 17.6 thousand workers) as well as increases of up to 4% in transportation and storage as well as in education (in each + 6 thousand people). In arts, entertainment and recreation, the increase by 10.5% meant an increase by 3.7 thousand workers.
At the same time, however, a 15% decrease in the number of employees in administrative services (-8 thousand people) as well as in finance and insurance (-11 thousand people) had a negative impact.
In terms of the educational groups, the number of employees increased, especially in the group of employees with complete secondary vocational education with a high school diploma, year-on-year by up to 39 000 persons (+4.3%). This group represented up to a third of the SR´s employment. There was an 11% year-on-year decrease in the labor force in the two other most numerous age groups – the university-educated as well as the secondary-educated without a high school diploma.
The most significant change on the labor market in structures according to age composition occurred in the workforce aged 50 to 54, their number rose by 7.5% (+22.7 thousand persons) as well as in young people aged 15-24 by 4, 6% (+ 5.2 thousand people) more. On the contrary, the number of employees aged between 55 and 59, but also young people aged between 25 and 34, decreased.
Development in the SR regions
From a regional perspective, employment increased year-on-year in 6 out of 8 SR regions. The most significantly by 1.3% in Banskobystrický kraj (+3.9 thousand people). The number of employees also increased by approximately 1% in Košický, Trenčiansky and Bratislavský kraj. And employment also increased slightly in Trnavský and Žilinský kraj. Only Nitriansky kraj (-1.9%) and Prešovský kraj (-0.7%) recorded a lower number of employees.
Bratislavský and Žilinský kraj achieved the highest employment rate, above the 80% threshold, just as in the 2nd quarter. The most significant positive year-on-year shift was recorded by Trenčiansky kraj, where the employment rate increased by 2.3 percentage points (p.p.) to 79.8%. The lowest employment rate remained in Prešovský kraj, currently at 72.0%.
In the third quarter of this year, 121.8 thousand Slovak citizens went to work abroad4), which was by 17% more than a year ago. They worked mainly in construction, industry and health and social work activities. Most of them came from Prešovský kraj, Banskobystrický and Žilinský kraj. The number of cross-border workers from Banskobystrický kraj (per person) rose most dynamically, it almost doubled. On the contrary, there was a decrease in the number of employees working abroad from Nitriansky kraj, by 21% (by 3.4 thousand persons).
Employment in 1st-3rd quarter of 2024
In total for the first three quarters of 2024, an average of 2 612 000 people worked in Slovakia, and this number increased by 0.5% year-on-year. Out of the 18 monitored sectors of the economy, the number of employees increased in 11 of them.
The trend of year-on-year growth was reflected in 7 out of 8 SR regions, Košický kraj dominated with an increase in employees by 1.2%, only Nitriansky kraj recorded a decrease for the 1st- 3rd quarter of 2024 by less than 1%.
The employment rate for the first nine months of 2024 increased by 0.7 p. p. to the current 77.9%.
The number of people working abroad for up to 1 year increased by 1.6% compared to the three quarters of 2023 to over 117 000 people.
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