Support for the least developed districts in Slovakia should change, as the fall in the unemployment rate in 12 such areas is trailing the drop in unemployment nationwide, TASR learnt from the Employment Institute on Thursday.
"Slovakia is experiencing high economic and employment growth. Based on figures from job centres, since June 2014 the number of people out of work has dropped by 42 percent, and the number of the long-term unemployed has halved," said Institute's director Michal Páleník. In the least developed districts, however, the decreases were less steep - 33 and 40 percent, respectively. This results in a widening regional gap. And while legislation does provide for monetary contributions for underdeveloped areas, according to Páleník they are scanty and, to make things worse, involve a great deal of paperwork and are not paid out until after each respective contract is signed - and reviewed individually. Michal Páleník thinks that such a way of supporting a cut in regional disparities is inadequate for slashing the unemployment rate within less than 200 years, and that is why the Employment Institute suggests that an inclusive labour market should be introduced.
According to Finance Ministry's Financial Policy Institute, a highway can reduce the unemployment rate in a given district by 0.9-1.6 percentage points. Even though the construction of a motorway or an expressway in regions with rampant unemployment can indeed have a certain effect, it is not so pronounced, however, and it is obvious that the problem of so-called 'hunger valleys' will not be resolved without increasing the quality of human capital, stresses the Institute.
