Slovak businesses turn to India to plug worker shortages
Slovakia has seen a rapid increase in employees coming from India in 2022, with numbers quadrupling to 1,350 as the IT and automotive sectors, particularly, are struggling with staff shortages.
The Labour, Social Affairs and Family Office confirmed the spike, noting that citizens of India and other Asian countries are already helping business hires.
“These are mainly jobs that have been in short supply for a long time, such as truck and lorry drivers or welders,” the office said.
Even recently, the number of Indian workers has increased, as the Jaguar Land Rover factory in the western Slovak city of Nitra recently hired another 173 workers from India.
Figures are also on the rise in the IT sector as Slovakia faces a long-term issue of brain drain, with many qualified Slovaks opting for Czechia for higher education.
The increase in Indian hires comes as other foreign groups are shrinking in numbers. While still the largest foreign workforce in Slovakia, Ukrainian workers saw numbers decrease to 11,000 in 2022 as Slovakia issued 2,400 fewer work permits to the group than it did in the previous year.
The number of Serb workers has also been on a downward trend since 2020.
“We are the only EU country that cannot retain talent and is becoming unattractive to talent from abroad,” said Ľudovít Ódor after President Zuzana Čaputová appointed him to lead the new technocrat government.
(Michal Hudec | EURACTIV.sk)
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