Foreigners make up approximately 2.8 percent of the population in Slovakia
According to the Center for Labor, Social Affairs and the Family, 69,172 foreigners were employed in Slovakia in October, more than 39,000 of them from outside the EU.
According to statistics from the Border and Alien Police Office of the Presidium of the Police Force, 152,902 foreigners with a residence permit lived in Slovakia in the middle of this year. This represents 2.8 percent of the country’s population. Foreigners in Slovakia are filling the gaps in the labor market. The head of the Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Bratislava, Zuzana Vatráľová, recalled this on the occasion of the International Day of Migrants, which commemorated the country on Saturday (December 18).
According to the Center for Labor, Social Affairs and the Family, 69,172 foreigners were employed in Slovakia in October, more than 39,000 of them from outside the EU. They most often worked in production as operators and fitters of machines and equipment. “In addition, approximately one in three foreigners living in Slovakia does business and can create additional jobs,” Vatráľová explained.
According to her, foreigners are thus filling gaps in the labor market in Slovakia. He reminds that the costs of their education and work and professional skills do not have to be borne by Slovakia. “Hiring a worker from an EU country is time-consuming and administratively demanding, so employers only reach for them when they fail to fill the position of a citizen of Slovakia or another EU country,” Vatráľová suggested.
According to IOM Slovakia, according to the analysis of the fiscal impact of migration in 2018, foreigners contribute more to the public budget than they drew from it.
However, pandemic reception restrictions did not affect mobility. According to the IOM World Migration Report 2022, the number of international migrants was about two million lower in 2020. Despite the declining mobility of the number of victims – dead or injured migrants in the world – according to the IOM, by 2021, the number exceeded 4,500 by 10 December, ie almost 300 more in 2020.
“Others have fallen victim to traffickers and smugglers on their journey, facing widespread stigma, inequality, xenophobia and racism, migrant women increasing the risk of gender-based violence,” Vatráľová said, adding that perhaps there are many legal routes for migration that respect national sovereignty and the human rights of people on the move.