More than a hundred Slovak companies and 16 entities from abroad are offering a total of 13,000 jobs at the two-day JobExpo 2014 fair that was launched at the Agrokomplex exhibition facility in Nitra on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Robert Fico on hand.
Fico at the ceremonial opening stated that the Government aims to squeeze the unemployment rate in Slovakia to the eurozone average, which is oscillating around 12 percent. “The unemployment rate in Slovakia stood at around 14.7 percent in March 2013 ... now we have an unemployment rate at some 13.3 percent”, said Fico. According to Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Jan Richter, the developments in the eurozone haven't been so optimistic as in Slovakia. While the unemployment rate in eurozone stood at 11.8 percent in December, it's now approaching 12.5 percent, he said. “There's an entirely different trend [in the eurozone] than in Slovakia, and I'd like to see our trend continue”, said Richter. Fico noted that the Government is launching a project called 'Initiative for Young People' in co-operation with the European Commission. “We'll be able to spend around €200 million for the project. We want to guarantee young people that they'll be given certain opportunities to find a job within four months [after graduation] or continue in their studies, go through a retraining or gain some practice”, added Fico.
