Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Skip to main content
European Commission logo

YouthWiki

EACEA National Policies Platform
Slovakia

Slovakia

3. Employment & Entrepreneurship

3.2 Administration and governance

Last update: 28 November 2023
On this page
  1. Governance
  2. Cros-sectorial cooperation

Governance

Employment, including youth employment, is of competence of the state administration and belongs to priorities of the Slovak Government formulated in government strategy for the next decade, till 2030, in document „Modern and successful Slovakia“.

Fundamental strategic documents in the field of youth employment and entrepreneurship:

The Youth Guarantee strategy is to ensure that all young people under the age of 30 years receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education, in line with Principle 4 of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

The event of Covid-19 affected the preparation of the strategy and the Youth Guarantee and the text of the proposal for the council recommendation was updated.

Youth Guarantee scheme in Slovakia will be based on the Council recommendation and will be structured around four phases:

  1. mapping
    1. Identifying the target group, available services and skills needs
    2. Enabling prevention through tracking and early warning system
  2. outreach
    1. Raising awareness and targeting communication
    2. Stepping up the outreach to vulnerable groups
  3. preparation
    1. Using profiling tools to tailor individualised action plans
    2. Performing counselling, guidance and mentoring
    3. Enhancing digital skills with preparatory training
    4. Assessing, improving and validating other important skills
  4. offer
    1. Making employment and start-up incentives work during the economic recession
    2. Aligning the offer to existing standards to ensure quality and equity
    3. Providing post-placement support and implementing feedback

The recommendation asks the member states to pay attention to the gender and diversity of the young people who are being targeted.

Although young people are one of the groups the most at risk of unemployment, no particular public institutions dealing with youth employment policymaking exist in Slovakia.

Institutions active in the field of (youth) employment and entrepreneurship:

  1. Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (hereafter “Labour Offices” only) are organisations of the MLSAF, dealing with implementation of employment services, cooperating with non-governmental employment services while offering opportunities for employment or practical training. These Labour Offices are managed by the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (COLSAF).  
  2. The Labour and Family Research Institute (IVPR) has been established by the MLSAF in order to carry out research of social and family, labour market, employment, employees’ relations and other policies. Research results have often been used during preparation of legislation, concepts, strategies and programmes of the MLSAF.
  3. Municipalities implement certain initiatives of the MLSAF and provide certain employment services, while they also develop their own initiatives and programmes.
  4. The State Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SIOV) has been established by the MESRS in order to prepare reforms, develop projects ensuring correlation of VET and the labour market and career counselling in line with the MLSAF counselling system, as well as to provide the seat for the project of practice firms at the secondary schools (SCCF).
  5. The National Institute for Lifelong-learning has been established by the MESRS to monitor educational needs and produce relevant prognoses, to provide counselling services via its own network and to implement the national qualification framework.

There are more key players dealing with the theme of (youth) employment, such as representatives of employers’ associations, trade unions, churches, chambers of commerce, universities and non-governmental organisations taking part in the work of the Solidarity and Development Council

Non-governmental non-profit organisations have been engaged with solutions for unemployment, but very few of them target young people, mainly in the field of career counselling and orientation at the labour market (anchor/see 3.4).

Cros-sectorial cooperation

Cooperation on the Youth Guarantee SR implementation is described in the cooperation agreement signed by the MLSAF, the MESRS, employers’ organisations, trade unions and schools.

Cooperation in the field of youth entrepreneurship development between the MESRS and the MoE (Ministry of Economy) is aimed at the creation of alternative entrepreneurship forms, loans, mentoring programmes, etc. The ESF sources of the Operational programme Research and Innovation have been utilised.