J01 - Labor Economics: GeneralReturn

The situation in the labour markets in EU countries after the onset of the financial and economic crisis has deteriorated significantly, while so called vulnerable groups have been affected more. Since the late 90s EU countries are oriented to promote employment growth, which is reflected in the documents and guidelines for individual Member States and approaches to find common solutions in the field of labour market and employment policy. For this purpose Europe 2020 strategy and follow-up documents and recommendations focused on growth performance, employment and competitiveness of the EU countries were adopted. The paper is focused on the characteristics of basic trends in the labour markets in the Member States, challenges and common procedures for employment growth and job creation.

The article focuses on the issue of education relating to employability of young people in the labor market, particularly in the Slovak Republic. It aims to analyze the current position of young people in the Slovak labor market using the method of comparison of unemployment rate with other countries of the European Union. In Slovakia , the situation of young people in the labor market is developing with negative trend , thus resulting in their prolonged high unemployment and the long duration of the transition from education to the labor market . The school system should be flexible and should also provide young people with some security. The paper sets out the main areas in improving formal education, based on the proposals for action of the European Commission. From the recommendations /May 2013/ for the Slovak Republic result the following proposals: to deal with the unfavorable situation of young through guarantees for young people, to take action to improve learning outcomes, to strengthen the provision of practical training directly in companies in vocational education and training, to support the effective transfer of knowledge by encouraging cooperation between universities , research community and the business sector.

German labour market and its situation are due to its size essential for many EU Member States. Based on this it is important to follow its situation and reforms because they can influence the economic situation in the neighbouring Member States including the Czech Republic. The aim of the article is to describe the situation of the German labour market before the world-wide economic crisis and the impacts of the crisis on the German economy in the context of the government measures. Finally we will focus on phenomena of Kurzarbeit, which helped, despite the crisis, to keep the employment rate relatively high and reduced the growth of the unemployment.