New subsidies – employment support in 2024

From 2 April, the national programme Financial Incentives for Employment (Finančné stimuly pre zamestnanosť), organised by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, will be launched. The project is designed to support young people under 30 and those who face disadvantages on the labour market. Its purpose is to help them find a job, integrate into working life and keep the jobs they have obtained.

The Financial Incentives for Employment project targets various groups of unemployed people who face obstacles such as age, a difficult family situation, a low level of education, loss of work habits, disability and others. From 2 April, the first two elements of the project will be launched; they include a motivational financial allowance for disadvantaged jobseekers and financial support for young people doing a graduate work placement.

The Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Erik Tomáš, stressed the importance of the project, especially for those who face difficulties in finding work. The project will be funded with €317 million in order to provide the necessary support and motivation to young people at the start of their careers. Further elements of the project will be launched over the coming weeks.

The managing authority for the project will be the Ministry of Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation of the Slovak Republic. Minister Richard Raši stressed that the project will be managed in line with European Union requirements and that the needs of individual regions will be taken into account.

The aim of the national project Financial Incentives for Employment, which is being implemented by the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (ÚPSVR), is to provide support in finding, settling into and keeping a job for young people under 30 and for disadvantaged unemployed people. Peter Ormandy, Director General and Secretary General of the Service Office, stressed that the project aims not only to help individuals find work but also to address the labour shortage on the labour market.

The project includes various forms of support, including a motivational financial allowance for disadvantaged jobseekers, financial support for young people during a graduate work placement, and more. The project is also funded from EU funds under Programme Slovakia.

The national project Financial Incentives for Employment will introduce the following forms of support:

• A motivational financial allowance for disadvantaged jobseekers, aimed at keeping the new employee in the job. It is intended for disadvantaged jobseekers who came from a household receiving assistance in material need.
• A financial allowance for young people doing a graduate work placement.
• A financial allowance for the employer towards the wage of a disadvantaged jobseeker and of a jobseeker under 30 who is NEET. The wage of the mentor who trains them in will also be financially supported.
• A financial allowance for a sheltered workshop or workplace when its former employee with a disability finds work on the open labour market, i.e. takes up employment outside the sheltered workshop or workplace.
• A financial allowance for employers and, at the same time, for disadvantaged jobseekers during trial work. The jobseeker remains on the register and does not receive a salary. The state pays them an allowance equal to the subsistence minimum, and the employer also receives an allowance for employing them.
• A financial allowance for young NEETs or disadvantaged jobseekers to start self-employment.
• A financial allowance for employers to adapt workplaces to the needs of people with disabilities.
• A financial allowance for keeping a person with a disability in employment on the open labour market. If an employee becomes a person with a disability during their employment, the state will contribute to the employer towards their job.

Under the Employment Services Act, disadvantaged jobseekers are:

• citizens under 26,
• citizens over 50,
• citizens registered as jobseekers for at least 12 consecutive months,
• citizens with less than secondary vocational education,
• citizens who, for at least 12 calendar months before being registered as jobseekers, did not have regular paid employment and did not carry out or operate a self-employed activity for longer than 6 consecutive months,
• third-country nationals who have been granted asylum or subsidiary protection,
• citizens living as single adults with one or more dependants in their care, or caring for at least one child who has not yet completed compulsory school attendance,
• citizens with a disability,
• citizens who stopped receiving maternity benefit or parental allowance less than two years before being registered as jobseekers and who, while receiving maternity benefit or parental allowance, had no income from employment or self-employment.

The labour ministry presents a set of three new projects to support employment

Right to a First Job project

The aim of the Right to a First Job (Právo na prvé zamestnanie) project is to support the creation of jobs for unemployed people, and it is intended for all jobseekers who have been registered with the Labour Offices (ÚPSVaR) for at least two months.

Under the project, a financial allowance will be provided to participating employers who take on jobseekers in the newly created jobs. One of the conditions is that the employment contract is concluded either for a fixed term, provided the person is employed for at least 12 months, or for an indefinite period. The employment must cover at least half of the fixed weekly working time.

The monthly allowance to the employer covers part, a maximum of 90%, of the employee’s total labour cost. It amounts to no more than €1,318.53, i.e. 70% of the total labour cost calculated from the average wage in the economy of the Slovak Republic for the first to third quarters of last year.

The financial allowance is provided for a maximum of 6 months, in a single payment, within 15 calendar days of the date on which the agreement on the provision of the financial allowance takes effect. The employer must then keep the job for a further 6 months without the allowance.

Motivate Yourself to Work project

The Motivate Yourself to Work (Motivuj sa k zamestnaniu) project aims to encourage new employees to stay in their new job. It is intended for employees who, immediately before joining the project, had been registered as unemployed jobseekers for at least 2 months and were removed from the register because they entered employment or a similar working relationship.

The Labour Offices will provide the financial allowance to the employees for the duration of their employment, for a maximum of 6 months.

Amount of the allowance:

• €150.00 a month for the first 3 months,
• €75.00 a month for the next 3 months.

Education of Young Adults project

Helping young adults from centres for children and families become independent and increasing their chances of finding work on the labour market is the main aim of the Education of Young Adults (Vzdelávanie mladých dospelých) project. Under the project, the state will contribute to courses for obtaining a category B or higher driving licence and a driver qualification card.

Applications to join the project may be submitted by persons registered with the Labour Office as jobseekers or job applicants. In addition, they must belong to at least one of the following groups:

• young adults who continue to receive care in a centre for children and families after reaching the age of majority,
• adults in continuous preparation for an occupation whose stay in a centre for children and families has been extended by no more than 24 months,
• minors preparing for independent life for whom a centre for children and families carries out residential measures on the basis of a court decision ordering institutional care.

The allowance will be provided in the full amount of the costs related to the training. In addition, applicants will be able to receive a flat-rate allowance as well. It will be intended to cover part of the expenses related to the young adult’s participation in the training, at €0.95 per lesson, up to a maximum of €190. The Labour Offices will pay the allowance directly to the provider that delivers the training course once the course has ended. The flat-rate allowance will be paid directly to the young adult.