YOUTH unemployment in Slovakia is the second highest in the European Union. As much as 32.3 percent of Slovaks below the age of 24 are jobless, according to EU statistics.
The only country with more youth unemployment is Poland, where it is 39.5 percent, the Hospodárske noviny reported.
Average youth unemployment in the EU is 18.7 percent. In the neighbouring Czech Republic the rate is 21.1 percent and in Hungary 14.8 percent.
The main reasons for the high level of youth unemployment, according to experts, is the high birth rate between 1981 and 1984 and the failure of schools to react to the demands of the labour market, educating pupils in fields that have little practical use today.
To address the problem, the Education Ministry has shut down around 30 percent of the outdated educational programmes. New ones that have more practical use on the modern labor market will replace these programmes, the daily reported.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
