Labour Ministry Touts Reforms, Jobs Measures and End to Pension Bias

Bratislava, 27 December – This year, many key changes and measures were adopted by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, ranging from reform of social services financing and labour market support measures to the removal of a 20-year discrimination against mothers whose pensions were lower due to time spent on maternity and parental leave, Labour Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) has told TASR in a year-end interview. According to Tomas, Slovakia has managed to keep unemployment at historic lows, to which measures from the Labour Ministry also contributed. These included the continuation of the Right to a First Job project for young people, under which 2,400 people were employed, with 75 percent remaining in the labour market without any state support or subsidies. A new ministry initiative entitled Work Instead of Benefits also came into force this year. Its principle is that anyone who can work but refuses a suitable job offer will lose, or have reduced, their material need benefit. "Current figures show that we have already managed to employ around 900 people in this way. In the case of 130 people, we have initiated administrative proceedings leading to the withdrawal of material need benefits, because they either refused a suitable job offer or failed to start work," Tomas said. He added that these figures will rise rapidly, as it was first necessary to identify people who are not registered as unemployed but are recipients of material need benefits. "However, we have 9,500 people who were rejected by employers themselves. We therefore immediately deployed our employment programmes, so-called financial incentives for employers, and prepared measures so that employers would also hire people who find it hard to get a job," he said. The minister also highlighted as a positive the removal of a 20-year discrimination against parents, especially mothers, who cared for children during maternity and parental leave and therefore had lower pensions. Under the new rules, this period will be included in the calculations of pensions as if they had worked normally. This measure is set to apply not only to future mothers but also retroactively, with pensions recalculated by the Social Insurance Agency with effect from 1 January 2026. mf