Introduction
We are going through a period of the corona crisis, which fundamentally affected the functioning of various areas of society. In the economic sphere, restrictive measures had an impact on business in some sectoral areas, and measures were taken to support the economy, aimed primarily at mitigating the negative consequences caused by the emergency situation. Even in 2020, several measures aimed at mitigating the economic impacts of the pandemic were approved, e.g. new types of social benefits were approved in the form of pandemic sick and nursing pay, direct assistance measures to maintain jobs within the so-called "First aid" for employees, entrepreneurs and self-employed persons. It goes, for example o Government Regulation no. 102/2020 Coll. on certain measures in the field of social affairs, family and employment services during an extraordinary situation, a state of emergency or a state of emergency declared in connection with the disease COVID-19 (as amended by No. 184/2020 Coll., 273/2020 Coll., 302/2020 Coll., 15/2021 Coll.)
The Government of the Slovak Republic approved "First aid" for employees, entrepreneurs and self-employed people in reducing the negative impacts resulting from the current extraordinary measures on March 31, 2020, and its amendment on April 14. The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family subsequently prepared a project to support the maintenance of employment in order to support the preservation of jobs and entrepreneurship of self-employed persons during the coronavirus pandemic. 1
Compared to neighboring countries, the Slovak Republic adopted similar support measures, but individual countries differed from each other in the amount and length of aid provided to entrepreneurs. "So far, Slovakia is providing state aid for businesses and people whose livelihoods have been taken away by the corona crisis, much less than neighboring countries and the vast majority of EU and OECD countries. The Slovak government is even the second "stingiest" in the entire EU, right after Romania. This was shown by an October study by the International Monetary Fund. In the case of Slovakia, economic aid during the pandemic constitutes only 2.5% of GDP. For comparison - Hungary 4.1%, the Czech Republic 4.4%, Croatia 5.2%, Poland 6.7%, Latvia 8.0%, Austria 8.5%, the United Kingdom 9.2%, Canada 12.5% and New Zealand even 19.5% of GDP."2
There have also been significant changes in the field of education, the onset of digitization of the school system has been accelerated, and there has been a transition from classical to distance learning in the home environment through the applications Zoom, MS Teams, etc. and parents can track information about students' grades and assignments in the Edupage application, for example. However, part of pupils and students remained without the possibility of access to online education, which will limit their progress in the educational process and deepen social exclusion. Subsequently, this situation will deepen disparities on the labor market.
Youth unemployment
New forms of education of young people have limited the acquisition of practical skills for students, especially vocational schools, which consequently affects their employability. As experts claim, the labor market will undergo a transformation in the future, some professions will disappear and new professions will emerge that will reflect the needs of society. Part of the school graduates will thus be left without the possibility to join the labor process. If a student finishes a field of study that is not promising and does not find a job, he loses knowledge and does not acquire work habits. The emphasis in the creation of new jobs will be mainly on jobs in the field of informatization and digitization of society in the context of the new industrial revolution 4.0, and this should be reflected in the educational system.
After a discussion with the schools, it would be appropriate to find a mechanism for "controlled" admission of students to study at secondary schools in those fields that are in short supply on the labor market and to cover the so-called educational gap. Therefore, intensive cooperation of the practice, i.e. employers, companies, etc., is desirable. with educational institutions that prepare young people for the labor market. Currently, the Ministry of Education does not regulate the number of applicants for secondary school studies in individual fields, but it is worth considering to develop analyzes of the employment of school graduates of individual fields on the labor market and at the same time to match the needs and demand for professions in short supply. It is the same with university graduates - many of them do not work in the completed field of study after graduation.
It is worth mentioning an interesting project that is based on the acute societal demand for relevant information about the employment of secondary and university graduates, which would lead to the rationalization of decision-making by all actors in the labor market and in the formal education system and significantly contribute to the elimination of existing disparities in the labor market and to the prevention of their occurrence in the future, and ultimately enable a relevant, comprehensive and exhaustive evaluation of the results of the education system.3
A specific group of the unemployed are the young unemployed, who failed to get a job after graduation due to the lack of vacancies. At the end of January this year, the employment offices registered 213,881 available job seekers, which is an increase of 6,697 people compared to December 2020. Unemployment rose for the third consecutive month. This follows from the data published by the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic. The rate of registered unemployment in Slovakia increased by 0.24 percentage points to 7.81 percent in January 2021 compared to December 2020. Almost 83.6 thousand unemployed people have been out of work for more than one year. This represents 35.9% of the total number of unemployed.4
Graph no. 1: Development and month-on-month changes in the employment of university graduates who completed their studies in 2018 and 2019 in the period March 2019 – June 2020 5
For young people, employment and work is a certain form of entry into the world of adults, into the world of responsibility. For young people who leave school and find adequate employment, it is possible to observe an improvement in the quality of their lives, as young people become self-sufficient, independent. Young school graduates who do not find employment remain dependent on financial or other assistance from the family or the state. In connection with unemployment, interactions with peers who have found employment also decrease, and therefore it is advisable to have interests that include more contact with people of a similar age, opinion and value orientation even during the duration of unemployment. Unemployment can have more negative consequences for young people than for other age groups mainly for the following reasons:
- they do not develop the necessary work habits, they get used to the role of the unemployed and to financial support without their own activity,
- there is a risk of antisocial behavior caused by an excess of free time, often boredom, an insufficiently filled daily schedule with obligations and subsequent exclusion from mainstream society (Buchtová, 2013).
Unemployed young people sometimes join inappropriate peer groups because the majority society did not accept them, did not give them a chance to get a job and therefore do not respect social norms. The main risk remains the fixation of these ways of behavior (Vágnerová, 2008). It is therefore necessary to prevent young people from becoming unemployed, because unemployment can negatively affect their behavior and lead to the occurrence of socio-pathological phenomena in society.
Young unemployed people are mostly single, without obligations and live with their parents, which significantly reduces their financial demands. Unemployment support is enough for them, they do not have to be motivated to look for work. The situation is different for unemployed university graduates, where the economic aspect comes to the fore. The main reason is the fact that many of them start or already live in families during this period. The insufficient income of one family member thus affects several people. The longer a person is unemployed, the worse is the financial and existential situation of his family. However, a stable family based on marriage is the best prerequisite for ensuring stability in society, and therefore the importance of a stable marriage for society should also be pointed out in the field of social work and a stronger pro-family policy should be created that would support young families through direct and indirect social policy tools. (Lešková, Fabian, 2019)
Young people need to be given the opportunity to work that would correspond to their education. However, they do not find it, for example, due to regional disparities in the labor market. It is therefore necessary to analyze the causes of unemployment and find ways to mitigate and eliminate them, to lend a helping hand to unemployed young people and help them solve this problem. It is important to provide unemployed young people with adequate information about the employment services mediated by the Labor Office of Social and Family Affairs, which they can use when applying to the labor market, e.g. in the form of counseling - whether it is career counseling, directing graduates to specific job positions, offering graduate internships, internships or job offers abroad, etc.
Work is a necessity not only for every young person, but also for society. Only through work does a person realize and develop his human being and at the same time transforms the social environment in which he lives. Work is the most important condition for a person's existence, it not only brings him material benefit, but also gives him a sense of self-realization and social usefulness. Work is not only a necessity, a human lot necessary for survival, but work also brings joy and satisfaction. A person usually recognizes the true value of work only when it is lost (Buchtová, 2013).
Work is an activity that confirms the uniqueness of an individual in relation to society. Motives for work can be different and have individual specific meaning. The most important motives for work are:
- Money. The goal is consumption, the satisfaction of a range of needs through values and pleasures that money can buy.
- Activity. Work can satisfy the need for meaningful activity. The opposite is boredom and a lack of life fulfillment.
- Self-realization. The goal is success, obtaining a desirable social status, the need for self-realization, a sense of usefulness, etc. Work can sometimes become the meaning of life. The opposite is a feeling of uselessness, failure.
- Social contact. At work, a person has the opportunity to establish several contacts, he has space for communication. The opposite is separation from the majority society, loneliness, social isolation. At a time when the home office is the preferred alternative, we can clearly perceive the absence of social contacts. Home-office places higher demands on self-study, on the motivation to learn independently and to search for new information. In a normal job, the employee learns new knowledge and experience even while working in normal social interactions with colleagues.
- Independence and independence. Economic self-sufficiency and independence from the help of the family or the state is a confirmation of the true maturity of a young person. The opposite is dependence and lack of self-sufficiency, which has a negative effect on the individual (Martincová, 2011).
Many young people are interested in work and are willing to work. However, many employers prefer people who already have acquired work habits, work experience and sufficient experience. During the past year and restrictions in connection with covid, student internships with employers were limited. Students in secondary schools have this kind of practice either for a month or half a year. It is often their first contact with employment and, for many, with their future employer if they have proven themselves during the internship. It is therefore more difficult for young people to find employment in the labor market if they have not completed such an internship. And if they find a job, mutual adaptation of the young employee to the work team is difficult, since the young generation, the so-called Generation Y has its own ideas about the work process, tasks and ideas that an employee should fulfill.
Among the most serious problems in the employment of young people are:
- an insufficiently adaptable school system that does not respond to the demands of the labor market, unpreparedness of school graduates for work experience,
- factors of the subjective nature of the school graduate himself, e.g. the wrong choice of profession, often influenced by the decision of parents, and the subsequent lack of interest of some graduates to work in the profession for which they were preparing,
- unrealistic ideas about the amount of the starting salary, the unpreparedness of graduates to realistically assess their possibilities for the first time in the labor market, the lack of adaptability of employees to work demands, or an indifferent approach to work,
- the unwillingness of some young people to become independent existentially,
- the cyclical nature of the influx of graduate labor into the labor market, which reduces their chances of employment in one period of time,
- demographic influences, i.e. entry of strong population years into the labor market,
- the regional nature of unemployment associated with the low ability of the economy to support the creation of new jobs in some regions, which creates a mismatch between the supply and demand for work (Hetteš, 2011).
The problems of young people on the labor market are specific, often very complex and interconnected. They begin at the time of his preparation for his future profession. They continue during the transition from education to the work process, in the process of finding a job and later in adaptation to their first job. Some of them, facing many forms of disadvantage, may lack self-confidence, personal ambition and motivation to work. The situation is more complex for young people who suffer from health problems or reduced work capacity. For them, entering the labor market is particularly difficult.
A young person as an individual often sees himself as a commodity on the market. Unlike goods, he offers his abilities, knowledge and skills. A person's life is generally oriented towards "having", the orientation towards "being" is disappearing. Thus, his "I" loses its real value, which belongs to a person as such (Gurský, 2012). Slovakia has a large number of university-educated people, but it is also necessary to state that the knowledge level of school graduates is decreasing. At the same time, they lack the required practical skills for performing specific professions.
The factors affecting the employability of young people can be summarized as follows:
- The isolation of the education and training system from the current needs of the labor market and the lack of key skills among high school and university graduates, which are required by the employer sector. Dual education appears to be a promising option, which has become a new trend in recent years, but in the past there was already a system of education in vocational schools supplemented by practice in a specific operation, shop, etc. The advantage for the students is the financial reward for the practical performance. The system of dual education is exceptional in that it creates a partnership between the employer and the student, which is defined in the form of a learning contract, which regulates the rights and obligations of the contracting parties in relation to the practical teaching of the student. Practical teaching in the dual education system is carried out at the workplace of practical teaching at the employer. 6
- Premature completion of schooling for some risk groups, mainly members of the Roma ethnic group living in socially excluded communities.
- Attention should be paid to a group of young people who do not have the required intellectual equipment for academic education and efforts should be made to direct this group to practical education and the acquisition of practical skills, so that this group can also be employed in professions where extensive theoretical knowledge is not so much required. However, it is desirable to educate and raise everyone, to inculcate a sense of duty and to build work habits.- The structure of the labor market. Prioritizing professionally older workers at the expense of new employees.
- The impossibility of meeting the often unrealistic expectations and financial demands of young job seekers.
- Insufficient offer of flexible forms of employment.
A common problem of young people is that they are not willing to work for the salary offered, or the job offered does not match their qualifications, since many young people already have a university education. With the external form of study, there was recently an addition to the duration of the study, but there is a possibility of a daily form of study, the future will certainly bring, even under the influence of the current corona situation, a new perspective on the face-to-face form of study, since during the pandemic we were forced to start using technical possibilities for education much more and the face-to-face form of study changed its previous form. A shorter period of preparation for a profession thus means an earlier entry of school graduates into practice.
They are also not willing to get a job outside of their permanent residence, or they delay their entry into the labor process due to unclear ideas about the next direction in life and thus become voluntarily unemployed. On the other hand, many young people, despite their efforts, do not find work and end up in the social network of the state. Unemployment has a negative impact on them, many of its consequences can be more serious and lasting for this group. Employment and the resulting economic independence are important signs of adulthood.
Employment vs Education
The young unemployed represent a group of citizens who, with their new way of life with a reduced standard of living, growing social isolation and reduced civic participation, co-creates the process of the transformation of society into a new social system. Even in the countries of the European Union, it is accepted that the experiences of young people from their first workplace as an anticipatory socialization environment are necessary and irreplaceable. These employment experiences, whether they are good or bad, have their indisputable socialization-formative significance. Therefore, youth unemployment is especially harmful if it follows immediately after the end of school education (Dirgová, 2018). If a graduate does not enter the labor market after completing education, does not apply the acquired knowledge, does not harmonize them with practice and does not adopt work habits, it becomes much more difficult after a while. It is true that the labor market is oriented towards graduates of the so-called graduates of the humanities are unable to fulfill the technical education fields and the real needs of the labor market, which leads to the fact that, in practice, young people do not devote themselves to the field they have studied. It is evident, e.g. for graduates of pedagogic studies who do not join schools for teaching positions after its completion.
As a result of the processes of economic globalization, technological innovation and informatization, and especially the current pandemic crisis, the traditional problem of the relationship between the educational and work systems, as the relationship between education and qualifications resulting from practical experience, will be integrated into the new context of the growth of competition on the labor market. Young people thus find themselves in a situation in which the chances of employment of the least educated and qualified people are significantly reduced. This means the danger of long-term unemployment and exclusion from the labor market for the entire segment of the current youth generation. A more careful evaluation of this sociological information indicates a vicious circle between the expectations of the unemployed, their education and the labor market. Most believe that their education is in line with what they want to do, but at the same time they know that they will not get a job with the education they have acquired. Some of them have come to terms with the fact that they will accept a job that also requires other education or qualifications than they have. The vicious circle between work and education is also reinforced by the fact that the offer of job opportunities in some regions is small and in a low salary range. Individual time and financial investments in retraining or further education are considered ineffective by the young unemployed. Experts from employment offices suggest that this vicious circle can only be overcome through individual and group counseling activities with the unemployed in order to set new and especially realistic professional goals. However, certain social strata of young people cannot perceive education and retraining as a possibility for personal development.
In the European Union's programs in the field of education and acquisition of practical skills for young people, the protection and assistance of disadvantaged and marginalized groups dominates. They are motivated to find their "second life chances", they are given opportunities so that those young people who have not finished compulsory schooling and who find it difficult to adapt to the demanding requirements of the workplace find their way into the labor market. Perhaps the most important task today is overcoming incorrect stereotypes among long-term unemployed youth.
European Social Fund (ESF) projects offer education and training opportunities and help overcome the many obstacles young people face in finding work and integrating into mainstream European society.
The Roma are one of the largest ethnic groups in the EU. According to estimates, 6 million of them live in various member states, often in very difficult social conditions, which pushes them to the margins of society. In this marginalized group, there is a high level of illiteracy and an extremely low frequency of school attendance, which is often due to the absence of local schools or the fact that Roma children are not admitted to regular schools. In addition, there is a high level of early school leaving among young Roma for various and complicated reasons. It is important that successful Roma promote themselves among young people in their community as positive role models in campaigns to help strengthen their motivation to achieve success.7
The Slovak economy will always respond sensitively to the development of other economies in the Central European area. The dependence of the Slovak economy on other countries, especially in the industry segment, and the lack of self-sufficiency in the field of agricultural production only deepens the effects of the covid-crisis, the consequences of which will manifest themselves in the economic and social spheres.
The vision of applying to the labor market should be present at all levels of education in the future. Education must correspond to current trends and the real needs of the labor market. The task of schools is not only to educate, but also to shape young people who will be able to think independently. The school should educate creative and innovative people, because in practice they are waiting for well-prepared people with the necessary knowledge and required skills. Also, moral values, responsibility for the results of work and its contribution or benefit to future generations and to society as a whole should not be neglected. (Dirgová, 2018)
Education is a preventive solution to unemployment. If a person has no skills, he has very limited options when looking for a job. Education is an investment in yourself. Even a person who has reached a certain level of education should not forget about further education, supplementing knowledge, adapting to a working environment with modern technologies. He should be sensitive to the challenges and current needs of the practice.
In matters of education, it is therefore necessary to react flexibly and anticipate the demands of the labor market in time. There are so-called key skills that are a condition for successful employment on the labor market in almost every profession. They are: flexibility, creativity, ability to learn and acquire information, practical application of knowledge, language and communication skills, control of information technology, ability to work in a team, ability to solve problems, ability to act independently and responsibly, or ability to plan and manage and others. This concerns the need for the cooperation of the Ministry of Education towards school founders and the need for a discussion with university representatives about the content of studies at individual types of schools. It is also about taking into account the regional needs of the labor market, cooperation with future employers in areas where there are large industrial parks, key companies, etc.
Increasing employment depends on education and access to information, which, unfortunately, is not a matter of course for all pupils. A new phenomenon appeared, the so-called digital exclusion, which will deepen the existing differences between groups of pupils and students. Those who are unable to embark on the "digital path" of education today will find it much more difficult to enter the working and life reality. The reform of education aimed at increasing its quality is related to this. A workforce with certain qualifications is needed, adapted to the new requirements of the labor market and possessing new skills, promptly adapting to the ever-changing demands of employers. Education is not a panacea to eliminate all the risks we face, but high quality education is a positive contribution to the future of the information society.
Conclusion
Education reform appears to be primary. It is desirable to set up an educational system that could respond flexibly to the needs of the labor market. It is also necessary to focus attention on retraining, which should meet the expectations of employers and prepare job seekers and potential employees for new, required professions with the necessary knowledge and skills.
The issue of first employment for young people, school graduates, is essential. Here, it is necessary to place maximum emphasis on young people acquiring work habits and gaining experience from real practice, which are very necessary. Theoretical knowledge acquired through study on the labor market is not enough, at least minimal experience is required.
In an attempt to influence the unemployment trend of school graduates, we suggest that primary and secondary schools show activity for the purpose of deliberately shaping the attitudes of pupils, students and parents towards the choice of profession with the aim of active participation of school graduates in the labor market and also to ensure close cooperation of the school system with employers so that the scope and structure of education corresponds to the educational requirements of jobs.
For high school and university graduates, we would recommend developing projects that could be financed from European Union funds. The essence of the projects would be the search for business opportunities and the development of a specific region. Through these projects, pupils and students would have the chance, under the guidance of experts, to get to know their region better, to find weaknesses in it, as well as business opportunities.
Currently, the labor market places great emphasis on the choice of education, occupation and career path. Uncertainty in the labor market is becoming a phenomenon even for people whose education and qualifications were sufficient for the performance of their profession in the past. For this reason, it is necessary to strengthen the labor market with a new component that deals with the issue of professional and career counseling.
The Integrated System of Type Positions (ISTP) is a tool whose aim is to provide as much information as possible about the world of work, including advice for those interested in the labor market, either as employees, employers, students or job seekers. ISTP provides for each participant a search for suitable positions for choosing an adequate job, a record of vacancies, where the job seeker can search for recommended typical positions for current vacancies in the ÚPSVaR database and in the EURES database, regional labor price statistics, a catalog of jobs that contain precisely defined qualification and health requirements, the possibility of creating and saving a "European CV" or "Personal Profile", information on other education, the Competency Analysis draws attention to missing mandatory or recommended education. Subsequently, it is possible to search for a specific educational organization, dates and prices of courses. The ISTP system is methodically and technically built in such a way that in one place www.istp.sk) it offers comprehensive information about the labor market, about the possibilities of employment on it and about suitable courses for further education.
Author: PhDr. Mgr. Eva Dirgová PhD.
List of bibliographic references
BUCHTOVÁ, B. et al.: Unemployment – 2nd revised and updated edition. Prague: Grada. 2013. ISBN 978-80-247-4282-3. DIRGOVÁ, E.: The phenomenon of unemployment in the context of social aspects. PF KU in Ružomberok, 2018. ISBN 978-80-561-0455-2. GURSKÝ, J.: The social dimension of young people in the contemporary world. In: The social dimension of man in the contemporary world. University of Health and Social Work St. Alžbety Bratislava, Detached workplace of the Queen of Peace from Medžugoria, Bardejov 2012. ISBN 978-80-8132-037-8. HETTEŠ, M.: Social cohesion and security in social work. Nitra: UKF, 2013. ISBN 978-80-558-0256-5. LEŠKOVÁ, L.- FABIAN, A.: Undergraduate students approach to marriage and forms of cohabitation as the starting point to initiate dialogue on traditional family values. In: Acta missiolgica. No. 2, Vol. 13/2019. ISSN 2453-7160 (online) pp. 125-137. MARTINCOVÁ, M.: Unemployment as a macroeconomic problem. Bratislava: IURA EDITION, 2002.128 p. ISBN 80-89047-31-9. VÁGNEROVÁ, M.: Psychopathology for the helping profession. Prague: Portal, 2008. ISBN 978-80-7367-414-4. Employment support during the corona crisis in Slovakia and neighboring countries. Slovak Business Agency Bratislava, 2020. Electronic publication.
1 Available at: https://www.pomahameludom.sk/ 2 ŠIMEČKA, M. Why is our government the second stingiest in the EU? We are a Blog. [online]: https://simecka.blog.sme.sk/c/546818/preco-je-nasa-vlada-druha-najskupejsia-v-eu.html [cit. 10/04/2021] 3 Available at: www.uplatnenie.sk 4 The unemployment rate in Slovakia rose for the third consecutive month in January. True. [online]: https://ekonomika.pravda.sk/ludia/clanok/578666-miera-nezamestnanosti-na-slovensku-v-januari-stupla-treti-mesiac-po-sebe/ [cit. 10/04/2021] 5 Development and month-on-month changes in the employment of university graduates who completed their studies in 2018 and 2019 in the period March 2019 – June 2020 [online]: https://www.trendyprace.sk/sk/absolventi/sk-trendy/zamestnanost [cit. 10/04/2021] 6 Available at: http://www.dualnysystem.sk 7 ESF Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/esf/home.jsp?langId=s