Only 5,2% of Katowice residents were jobless at the end of the first half of 2014, according to the Central Statistical Office’s announcement. Also, Katowice has the lowest unemployment rate from amongst all the cities of the Silesia voivodeship and the fifth lowest in Poland after Poznań, Sopot, Warsaw and Wrocław.
In June 2014, the average national unemployment rate was at the level of 12%. That figure represents the number of registered unemployed persons as a percent of the labor force. The lowest percent of jobless residents was registered in Poznań (3,7%). The unemployment rate in Katowice is comparable to figures of other southern Polish large cities: Wrocław (5%) and Kraków (5,6%). The 5,2% rate in Katowice means that 11 thousand people were unemployed and looking for jobs at the end of June 2014 in the Silesia voivodeship’s capital city.
The average unemployment rate in the Silesia voivodeship was 10,3%. Apart from Katowice, the lowest rate was registered in Tychy (5,4%) and Bielsko-Biała (5,5%). Bytom and Świętochłowice topped the list of the cities with the highest unemployment rates – 20,4% and 17,3% respectively.