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Slovakia to hardly be able to squeeze unemployment rate under 7.5-8 percent: PM

Xinhua, January 9, 2017 Adjust font size:

The unemployment rate in Slovakia has been at 7.5 to 8 percent in the country's best years, and these figures might also be reached in 2017, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on Sunday.

"Nonetheless, it would be very difficult to squeeze unemployment under these numbers, given the current unemployment structure, " said the prime minister.

"A large part of these people lack even a basic education, while there are others who don't want to get any job in order to avoid distrainment, and people who are too lazy to work while receiving social benefits under such conditions," said Fico.

In Nov. 2016, the rate of unemployment in Slovakia reached 8.78 percent. A new law to tackle this situation is currently being drawn up.

"Those who want to be active will get more state assistance, while those just misusing the social system will get stricter treatment," stressed Fico.

Another problem is the lack of a skilled labour force in some regions.

"One of the solutions should consist in adjusting education at secondary schools to the needs of the market," Fico pointed out.

Nevertheless, Fico conceded that sometimes it's impossible to go without importing some labour from abroad, such as PSA Peugeot Citroen in Trnava which offers 1,300 euros (1,376 U.S.dollars) per month on average but it's still unable to find skilled staff.

"We suddenly found out that if it hadn't been given a permit to import labour from Serbia, it wouldn't have been able to guarantee production," added Fico. Endit