How to open the labour market to foreigners. European companies were inspired by Switzerland

In the Slovak economy, in the first quarter of this year, companies on average were unable to fill almost 85,000 jobs. At first glance, the high number is not so high when compared with other countries of the European Union.

The share of vacancies in the total number of jobs reached 1.3 percent in Slovakia. It is lower in only six countries of the European Union and higher in as many as twenty. The highest share, as much as 4.5 percent, is in Austria. On the contrary, the lowest, only 0.7 percent, is in Romania.

A persistently high number of unfilled jobs causes the economy to needlessly miss out on the opportunity for faster growth and the state on tax and levy revenues. The potential for increasing payments to the state budget, in the case of the domestic economy alone, is in the hundreds of millions of euros annually. For example, employing 10,000 people for an average wage of 1,447 euros will increase tax and levy revenues over the course of twelve months by 104 million euros.

Education of migrants

A high number of vacancies troubles almost all European countries. The biggest problems with a shortage of people are faced by companies in the western states. Despite high wages, it is difficult to find experts as well as low-skilled workers in them. Without the adoption of the necessary reforms, this will be even worse in the future due to the poor demographic development. „The size of the European working population will decrease every year by approximately one million people until 2050,“ said Ellen O’Connor, spokesperson for BusinessEurope, the organisation representing the interests of European employers in Brussels.

Companies see the solution in a combination of several measures. The fundamental one is easier recruitment of foreigners from countries outside the European Union. At the same time, there is no need to focus only on highly skilled experts, as less educated people can also help. In the case of an interest in work, it is possible to teach migrants the basics of milling, for example, within just a few months. „In Switzerland, integration programmes similar to apprenticeship training and industrial certificates have been successfully introduced. These programmes allow low-skilled migrants to enter the education system,“ adds Ellen O’Connor.

A fundamental question is: Who will pay for the education of foreigners? BusinessEurope proposes to use money from the European Social Fund+ as a source. Thus, in the future, not only European unemployed people but also migrants from foreign countries will be able to be educated using EU funds. Moreover, following the example of Switzerland, this will be done with the help of local vocational schools.

Germany has opened up

The Slovak government responded to the problem of the high number of vacancies with changes in the visa system. After obtaining them, people coming from countries outside the European Union can work in the domestic economy. At the same time, politicians promised companies that they would issue more of these permits and help fill at least part of the vacant positions. For example, the number of visas issued annually for bus drivers is to rise from two hundred to 2,000 and for truck drivers from 2,000 to 5,000. Significantly more foreigners are also to work in industry or other selected professions such as bricklayer or chambermaid.

More time is needed to evaluate the adopted changes. From a short-term perspective, they have not helped much so far and there are more and more unfilled positions. In May there were almost 95,000 of them. The reason is that the simplification of permits is mainly being discussed, while in reality changes that are insufficient from the perspective of the labour market are being adopted. Moreover, there is one more problem. Local companies point out that after foreigners learn the necessary skills in the production halls, they leave for better-paid positions abroad.

Because of higher wages, the destination country is mainly Germany. The largest European economy also offers better opportunities for career growth. Despite this, finding the necessary number of employees is an even bigger problem there than in Slovakia. The share of vacancies in the total population reached as much as 3.5 percent in the German economy and only 1.3 percent in the domestic economy.

Berlin decided to solve the problem of labour shortage with even greater openness of the labour market. Since the beginning of the month, a system known by the abbreviation „opportunity card“ has started to operate. After it is granted, applicants can look for work in Germany for up to a year. A valid employment contract with a German company is no longer needed to enter the country. For comparison, in the Slovak economy the condition of a concluded contract still applies. At the same time, people with a granted national visa cannot leave to work for another employer. Foreigners can shuttle between businesses only if they work for a staffing agency, and that agency must operate on the domestic market for at least three years. But even in this case they cannot change the specific staffing agency, and the German system is much more flexible.

Berlin also adopted other radical changes. Foreigners do not have to know the German language and only the basics of English are enough for them. Education obtained in the home country does not need to be verified before German authorities. Whether a given person can or cannot manage a specific job is up to the employer's assessment. After working for three years, foreigners automatically gain entitlement to permanent residence in Germany. In Slovakia, after working for one year, they quite often have to return to their homeland.

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