Lack of labour force as a main challenge for Slovak cabinet in 2018

The lack of a labour force will be the main challenge for the Slovak Government in 2018, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico at a press conference on Wednesday. Noting that he had debated the issue several times with industries and other business organisations in 2017, Fico said that their mutual goal was to find a labour force especially among the unemployed. According to the biggest Slovak job portal, Profesia.sk, last year they recorded nearly 275,000 open job vacancies. Compared to the previous year, the employers' offer grew by more than 10 percent. The trend should also continue in 2018. According to Jaroslava Rezlerová, Managing Director of Manpower Group Czech and Slovak Republic, with the unemployment rate in Slovakia dropping to 6 percent, the demand for employees is considerably higher than the supply, and in major cities and industrial areas there is a critical shortage of suitable workers.