Background information

The active labour market measures include the projects and programmes to support integration of a third country citizen who applied for or was granted asylum or who was granted the temporary refugee status. The aim is to facilitate their inclusion into the labour market by the provision of measures and services supporting their employability and employment.

The Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family will provide allowances for education and training of people from Ukraine with granted temporary protection status. The support is provided within the project Help to Refugees as the Measure 1. The project was developed within the Operational Programme Human Resources.

The Act No. 92/2022 Coll. adds some amendments to the Act No. 5/2004 on employment services. Section 54 focuses on projects and programmes provided to increase the employability of job-seekers.

Content of measure

The aim of the education and training for refugees is to gain knowledge and skills necessary for social inclusion and integration into the labour market. Based on their preferences or educational needs, the refugee chooses the particular accredited or licensed educational course or training and course provider. Within the project, the preferences or educational needs can be identified within another measure focused on labour market orientation and career guidance of the refugee.

The labour offices provide the websites with the educational and training courses to help with the choice. The measure supports various professional courses. Among the key competencies courses, only language and computer courses are supported. The driver’s license B course is not eligible for the support. The courses can be provided in present or distant form and only in the Slovak Republic.

The applicant needs to submit the application to receive the allowance for the educational course at least 15 calendar days before the course starts. As the measure is facultative, the labour office assesses each application individually to ensure the cost efficiency. The allowance is paid after the person finishes the course successfully. The allowance is provided based on a written agreement between the applicant and a labour office if the labour office approves the application. The allowance consists of two parts – the course allowance paid to the provider at 100% of the course costs and a flat-rate allowance to cover the personal costs paid to the refugee.

Use of measure

A total of 2,652 refugees from Ukraine participated in education and training within this measure in 2022. Of them, almost 85% were women. Regarding the educational structure of participants, 53% had completed tertiary education and 35% had gained upper secondary education. The vast majority of refugees (almost 86%) participated in Slovak language courses learning Slovak as a foreign language. The total expenditure for education and training of refugees was €1,126,752 in 2022.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Public employment service	European Funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No involvement of social partners in designing, implementing and monitoring the measure.

Views and reactions

No social partner's views / reactions to the measure are available.

Sources

• 22 March 2022: Dôvodová správa k Zákonu č. 92/2022 Z. z. (rokovania.gov.sk)
• 22 March 2022: Lex Ukrajina II: Act No. 92/2022 Coll. on Other certain measures referred to the situation in Ukraine (Zákon č. 92/2022 Z. z. o niektorých ďalších opatreniach v súvislosti so situáciou na Ukrajine (www.slov-lex.sk)
• 01 April 2022: Act No. 5/2004 Coll. on Employment Services, as amended (Zákon č. 5/2004 Z. z. o službách zamestnanosti v znení neskorších predpisov) (www.slov-lex.sk)
• 03 May 2022: Vzdelávanie odídencov (Projekt Pomáhame odídencom (www.upsvr.gov.sk)
• 08 February 2023: National Project Helping Refugees (Národný projekt Pomáhame odídencom) (www.ludskezdroje.gov.sk)
• 31 May 2023: Annual evaluation of active labour market measures implementation for 2022 (Vyhodnotenie uplatňovania aktívnych opatrení na trhu práce za rok 2022) (www.upsvr.gov.sk)