Slovakia is losing competitiveness: Companies are closing, production is falling and people are losing their jobs

​Geopolitics in particular is not favourable to Slovakia

Uncertainty and lower demand from foreign partners is also being transferred into reduced production. In the first round, this is passed on to the smaller ones, dependent on the big factories.

„To subcontractors, who often can no longer continue to function,“ says the Secretary General of the APZD, Andrej Lasz.

„It can be people in security services. It can be people serving lunch. It can be people who do servicing, security and so on, “ says the Vice-President of ZAP, Pavol Prepiak.

Everyone will feel it

It is an ecosystem that, when disrupted, everyone will feel it. But Slovakia is harmed not only by the wider world. Companies are also bothered by government steps that push us onto an investment sidetrack.

„We have the highest tax and contribution burden among the countries of Central Europe. We can hardly compete with the surrounding countries. We observe cases where entrepreneurs are relocating the headquarters of their companies abroad,“ Andrej Lasz continues.

Last year, Slovakia thus already lost two important car models.

„We lost out to other countries, to other production plants,“ adds Pavol Prepiak.

Thousands of companies disappeared

After COVID, the number of defunct companies began to slowly return to normal. Last year, however, it spiked and almost eight thousand companies disappeared. Their disappearance means only one thing for the ordinary person – they lose their job. Slovaks already began to feel this last year.

Last year in the summer, the largest footwear company ended production and 650 people lost their jobs. And it did not end there.

„Many companies do it by laying off a few people each month so that they do not have to report mass layoffs,“ says the interviewee.

In December, a company that is the successor to Turčianske papierne ended production. It employed more than 200 people. Shortly after it, the Martin-based Neografia also announced problems. It is fighting for survival. Approximately 350 employees work there.

„The labour offices are getting rid of people. I really don't know, like, what those people are going to do, where they will be, where they will work,“ says the interviewee.

„It is a big problem to find a job, and especially the kind of job that guarantees you a dignified life, so that you don't have a problem paying rent, some mortgage,“ the interviewee continues.

Worsening of the life situation

The worsening of the life situation is also felt by small sole traders. Those who closed their operations are trying to survive. Andrea has a small flower shop on the Ľadoveň housing estate in Martin. But she cannot afford an employee.

„I have been in business for 10 years and we feel that the costs are increasing and it is worse year after year,“ describes the flower shop owner Andrea.

Almost 70 thousand sole traderships disappeared

Last year in Slovakia almost eight thousand companies and more than 67 thousand sole traderships disappeared. The employers' forecast, meanwhile, is not very appealing for this year either, and their message to the government is clear – consolidation must be done differently.

„Without stifling it and without slowing down the economy so much that it will no longer be able to produce at all,“ adds Andrej Lasz. 

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