PRESS: Hospodárske noviny –  Topic of the Day

Bratislava – On Slovak streets, we are increasingly encountering men wearing turbans. In industrial plants and in the offices of IT companies, Hindi is being heard more and more often.

After Ukrainians, Indians have gradually become the second-largest foreign workforce in Slovakia. They have now surpassed even the Serbs by around one hundred people—Serbs have traditionally been a strong backbone of Slovak industry.

According to the latest data from the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, more than 9,200 Indian nationals were working in Slovakia at the end of October. For comparison, this is roughly the same number of inhabitants as the town of Šurany in the Nové Zámky district.

IT Specialists and Assembly Line Workers

Experience from the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia shows that Indian citizens work primarily in the IT sector, development centers, and technical services.
“We also see a smaller presence in academia and research. However, we are recording significant growth in lower-skilled positions such as cooks, masseurs, or workers on production lines and manual laborers,” said Alexander Horváth, founder and vice-president of the Chamber, to HN.

The number of people from the world’s most populous country could increase significantly in the near future. This is due to a government regulation change from spring 2024, which concerns the issuance of national visas for third-country nationals.

While previously a maximum of 2,000 people per year from developing countries could obtain national visas, the new regulation raises this limit to up to 10,000 per calendar year.

In addition to Indians, nationals from several former Soviet republics, as well as Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, and Balkan countries, may also apply for these visas.

Economic Perspective

According to Tomáš Boháček, analyst at 365.bank, the government is responding to a long-term labor shortage that has been limiting economic performance.

“India is currently one of the world’s largest ‘labor sources.’ It has a young population, experience working within the European Union, and strong English-language skills. Moreover, Slovak companies have preferred recruitment from India for years because integration is faster and employee turnover is lower than in some other regions.”

He added that the figure of 10,000 visas represents a compromise.

“From a macroeconomic perspective, it will not cover total demand, but it is a volume the system can manage administratively and probably also in terms of integration. The Slovak labor market has around 40,000 to 50,000 unfilled positions in the long term. This number would therefore cover roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of the acute shortage.”

Foreign Workers in Slovakia

• Ukrainians: ~52,000 (approx. 37%)

• Indians: ~9,200

• Serbs: ~9,100

• Czechs: ~7,300

• Romanians: ~7,000

Altogether, nearly 139,000 foreigners are currently contributing to the Slovak economy—an all-time high. This number is expected to continue growing and could reach up to 160,000 in the coming years.

Nurses from Uzbekistan

One of the major problems in Slovak healthcare is a shortage of staff, particularly nurses. According to Iveta Lazorová, president of the Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives, the system needs approximately 14,000 additional nurses.

Nurses from Uzbekistan could help address this shortage. During a June visit to Tashkent, Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that the Central Asian country is prepared to provide up to 200,000 people willing to work abroad.

According to Fico, Slovakia currently needs 150,000 qualified workers, who could find employment in car manufacturing plants as well as in healthcare as nurses.

Author: Juraj Pivarči
Source: Hospodárske noviny