Illustrative stock photo (source: Unsplash)
The coronavirus pandemic continues to have a negative impact on the labour market, with the intensity in individual sectors being quite different.
While during the first and second pandemic wave there was an endangering of jobs, particularly in regions where sectors like gastronomy, the hotel industry and tourism prevailed, the situation is changing now.
There are still plenty of vacancies, and several employers united in the National Union of Employers (RÚZ) are having problems finding qualified employees, the TASR newswire reported.
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Acute shortage of IT specialists
Employers in the Bratislava Region, Košice Region and Banská Bystrica Region, for example, report an acute shortage of IT specialists, especially programmers and developers.
“Job websites offer countless job ads in the IT fields, but technological companies in Slovakia have a long-term problem due to the scarcity of qualified employees,” said Mário Lelovský of RÚZ, also a member of the IT Association of Slovakia, as quoted by TASR. “The badly set-up education system offers us an insufficient number of qualified graduates and if there are some, they leave to work abroad.”
Staff shortage in warehouses and shops
Meanwhile, Trnava-based employers are complaining about the lack of repairers, warehousers, servicemen, and shop assistants.
The number of positions for shop assistants and warehousers significantly exceeds the number of jobseekers, and employers are struggling to fill in these positions, said Martin Krajčovič, member of the RÚZ board and chair of the Slovak Alliance of Modern Trade.
“A change and greater flexibility of the Labour Code could significantly help in this field,” he added, as quoted by TASR.
Lack of graduates
Finding qualified printers, bookbinders and other workers from the printing sector is also problematic. Employers say that the problem is due to the lack of graduates in relevant fields of study.
Viniculturists, farm animals breeders, fruit and vegetable growers and foresters are also scarce. There is a shortage of electrotechnicians, mechanical engineers and specialists for cyber security as well.
Specialists in industrial security and special fields of energy sector, such as nuclear energy, are also lacking, said Martin Hošták, secretary of the RÚZ.
Specialists in the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, an area that is still practically still developing, comprise a special group. The Slovak education system is not responding to this demand, though the need for these experts has been under discussion for more than two decades already, according to Hošták.
