Archive of articles - February 2010, page 5
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Retraining improves jobseekers chances
The economic crisis has already left a large number of Slovaks jobless and the prospect for the near future is gloomy with unemployment expected to grow higher over much of 2010. Another piece of bad news is that the number of vacancies is very low, providing just a small chance that jobseekers can find a job in their previous profession. Retraining programmes provide new skills or enrolling in formal education courses to broaden one’s base of knowledge is a way for unemployed persons to improve their chances at reintegration into the labour market.
Pilot infrastructure for e-Health
A SLOVAK company, Soitron, will develop pilot infrastructure for informatisation of Slovakia’s health-care sector. The total value of the government order is €1.063 million, without VAT, compared with the originally estimated sum of €1.7 million. The decision was made on December 23 last year, the SITA newswire wrote.
Council of Europe criticises prisons
THE COUNCIL of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture has published a report in which it revealed that the treatment of detainees in Slovak prisons does not fulfil the required standards. The committee asked Slovakia to put things in order, the Sme daily reported.
Health-care institutions in Slovakia
Ministry of Health
Senior police officer arrested for bribery
MIROSLAV Uchnár, the former director of the Border Police in Sobrance of the Office of Border and Immigration Police was detained on February 15 by officers of the inspectorate of the Interior Ministry. Charges of bribery and abuse of public office were filed against the former director, the spokesman of the Interior Ministry, Erik Tomáš, told the SITA newswire.
Australian minister makes first visit
SLOVAK Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák received his Australian counterpart, Stephen Smith, in Bratislava on February 16. The two ministers discussed the possibility of simplified access of Slovak students to Australian universities, the SITA newswire reported.
Quarterly advance in GDP brings hope
MANY Slovaks do not need graphs or stats to know that the country’s economy is still frail and that market watchers are talking only about a gradual economic recovery that will not relieve many people of their job anxieties over the near-term. Nevertheless, statistical data on the country’s better economic performance in the last quarter of 2009 did please many economic analysts, especially since Slovakia surpassed its regional cohorts and, to some extent, other countries in the eurozone.
Unemployed wait for better times
Unemployment has been hitting record levels across Europe and Slovakia is no exception, reporting a jobless rate returning to two-digit levels for the first time in many years. The country, with its open and export-oriented economy, has been strongly affected by declining orders from abroad and now is waiting for the economies of Slovakia’s main trading partners to recover and lead to the first positive signals for Slovakia’s labour market.
Intoxicating beauty and freedom
VANCOUVER used to have a nudist colony called Wreck Beach. At the time I frequented it in the early 1990s (with my girlfriend, OK?) it felt like the freest place on earth. The approach was a steep log staircase descending through a bluff of trees near the university campus. Once down there you could be sure that no police would be patrolling to punish people drinking beer, like they would in the rest of Canada. In fact there was even an old guy there, a regular, who sold drugs, mostly weed and LSD. He didn’t try to disguise himself but wore a baseball cap with fake moose antlers attached, a fanny pack for his merchandise, and nothing else. One of his favourite jokes was to run away from prospective clients. They would be advancing with money in hand, he would start backpedalling, and the chase would be on. Eventually he would stop, choking on his mirth. He was lucky no cops ever came down there – he sagged in places that old men tend to, and if he had been chased in earnest he might have entangled himself.
Facing the challenges of change
Companies forced onto a strict financial diet by the global downturn have trimmed down their human resources budgets – putting immense pressure on the HR industry, where now only the strongest and most adaptable firms are prepared to move forward. Both clients and HR consultancies and personnel search firms have had to reach back to the fundamentals of the field but they have also needed to fully deploy their skills in innovation and creativity to respond to the new challenges of the labour market.
Is learning one way to get out of the crisis?
Learning is a meaningful way to combat the economic crisis. Along with the problems it brings, the crisis is a suitable period for learning because a successful start in the future will only be possible under altered conditions. MBA study is a good way to improve starting conditions for the future. Both employees and employers profit from education, because well-trained workers do more and have secure jobs. At the same time, it is very important to what degree theory is applicable in practice. One of the largest providers of distance studies to have a practice-oriented education programme is the Sales Manager Academy in Vienna.
Unique ski lift celebrates its 55th birthday
A CABLEWAY at Chvatimech near the municipality of Valaská in Brezno District celebrated its 55th birthday on February 12. Although it lost its operational licence to carry people 15 years ago, fans of the cableway are seeking to have it work again so that skiers and tourists can once again ride up the hill on this technologically-unique facility. Currently, it is only working as a cargo cableway.
Scribbles from Nové Zámky
IN THIS very old picture of Nové Zámky from 1902, we can see the protocol at that time for writing on postcards. The whole back-side was for writing the address and nothing else could go there. In the tiny white space on the lower front-side, the postcard sender had to compose and write everything. With the limited space, people tried to find various solutions, as can be seen on this postcard.
Moving the Borders of Knowledge
Only forward-thinking bank possess perception, that long-term investment into education creates a healthy social and business environment.
Polls suggest centre-right comeback
IN THE wake of the recent turmoil around the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), caused by Prime Minister Robert Fico’s accusations against it of money laundering, and the failure of the centre-right parties to form a broad pre-election coalition, the highlights of recent opinion polls are the declining numbers for SDKÚ and the increase for one of its main competitors.
Employers now dictate salary levels
Wages in Slovakia’s economy are increasing even though the economic crisis has slowed down their growth. But even this growth is perceived as deceptive, according to experts, as companies have rid themselves of less-qualified and lower-paid employees and are keeping those with higher qualifications and higher salaries, thus pushing up average wages in national statistics. The times in the recent past of job-hopping, changing jobs only to get a higher salary has ended and now employers are dictating salary conditions. The lower number of vacancies has dampened job applicants’ wage expectations and many are now ready to accept lower salaries than they had in the past.
Employee education – a benefit and a necessity
Cutting costs was the topic of the day throughout all of last year, when companies in all economic sectors searched for ways to prevent the economic crisis from cutting too severely into their bottom line. Surveys suggest that some companies sacrificed additional training courses for their employees in order to save funds but some observers suggest that employers are only using alternative methods of education and are targeting their expenditures better by focusing more on education and training key employees.
The tortuous path of joblessness
The global economic downturn has firmly implanted expressions such as mass layoffs, reduced work hours, declining demand and frozen wages not only to the vocabulary of the media but also to people who two years ago had rarely heard such expressions.
15,300 foreigners worked in Slovakia in 2009
BY THE end of 2009 there were around 15,300 foreigners working legally in Slovakia, according to the Centre of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, the SITA newswire reported.
Accreditation maps Slovakia’s academic landscape
Last year was in many ways historical and unforgettable for most Slovak universities. There were several scandals as media revealed one school issuing so-called express diplomas to children of academic staff (and others) and discovered plagiarised texts being proudly presented by some Slovak academics as the fruits of their own work. But universities will mostly remember 2009 as the year when the results of the Slovak Education Ministry’s comprehensive accreditation process were presented.
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- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access More articles ›
