The long-term unemployed are finding it difficult to find work. (source: TASR)
"These are, for instance, people from segregated Roma communities that are a shade away from being completely unemployable and the Government doesn't do anything for their employment. These groups have never participated in the labour market and are not considered unemployed by the statistics because they have never sought jobs. They're outside the labour market," stressed Páleník.
Their share has seen no change since 2006, he says.
"If we compare this to other countries, the worse state of affairs is seen only in Spain, Greece, Bulgaria and Italy, where the share is in the neighbourhood of 30 percent. Thus we belong among the worst EU countries in this respect," said Páleník as quoted by TASR.
He added that it's necessary to reach out to these people via subsidised social inclusion enterprises, where they would gain employment for approximately two years under a legitimate working contract in order to acquire a required level of work skills needed to seek jobs on the open labour market later.
"Without working habits, they will never enter the labour market. However, this labour force will be needed in the future," he said.
