Richter: Employment Strategy Set for Fourth Industrial Revolution

Bratislava, December 18 (TASR) - Slovakia has an employment policy strategy that takes into account the fourth industrial revolution, has a National System of Qualifications and a National System of Occupations, Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Jan Richter (Smer-SD) has said. Richter was responding to Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) vice-president Monika Uhlerova, who said after a tripartite session on Monday (December 17) that as many as 33 percent of jobs in Slovakia are endangered by automatisation and digitisation, which increases the importance of lifelong learning for adults. First, employers will be interested in flexible labour, while secondly, labour offices will seek to prepare people for new needs, added the head of the Labour Ministry. "The structure of Slovak industry is such that digitisation and robotisation will apply to us," he noted. Uhlerova thinks that the people who lose their jobs due to new technologies can be employed in the areas of education and health and social care. "This area is currently undersized in terms of personnel and finances. We should focus on how to prepare a labour supply and create the necessary technical, capacity and financial conditions," said Uhlerova. Richter agreed, adding that interest in services that aren't developed will probably grow gradually. am/df