The state plans to cover the costs pertaining to jobs and education programmes for companies in regions with high unemployment, mainly in Eastern Slovakia, also known as the ‘hunger valleys’, where one in every four or five inhabitants is jobless. As the Hospodarske Noviny daily writes, those who manage to land a job usually work for less than the average Slovak salary.
The government’s plan, designed to support the growth of employment, is to be financed by €6.5 million allocated from European funds. Money will be provided only to companies hiring so-called disadvantaged jobseekers, people who have been unemployed for more than a year as well as mothers after maternal leave and people aged over 50. These prospective employees are usually ignored by companies, as their pre-job training proves to be more expensive and takes longer.
The maximum contribution per job equals €476 per month or the minimum wage plus employer levies, and companies can claim the money for a maximum period of one year. However, so far, only a single application has been recorded at a job centre located in the eastern town of Prešov. The Labour Ministry projects that the contribution scheme could create 2,000 new jobs, but experts warn that these jobs would only be of a temporary nature. Structural changes are needed in order to resolve the problem in the hunger valleys, said Vladimir Sirotka from the Small and Medium-sized Companies Association. He also fails to understand efforts to engage in what he sees as artificial support for regions in which companies are simply absent. “No one can force companies to come here, so there’s a need to focus on mobility or commuting,” added Sirotka.
