Finance reflects on job market upset
Ljubljana, 25 March - In its Wednesday's editorial, the newspaper Finance notes the sudden change in Slovenia's job market following the onset of the coronavirus epidemic, welcoming the measures planned by the government and calling for their swift implementation.
Under the headline No More Whimsical Candidates, Jobs Are at Stake, the paper notes that life has turned upside down in just two weeks from a situation in which people were picky about which jobs to take to a situation in which people will be happy if they get to keep their jobs at all.
The paper finds that businesses are still looking for staff, but that the demand now is highest for shop and check out assistants, warehouse staff, pharmaceuticals manufacturing workers, deliverers.
"Even if companies would like to hire workers willing to work in the given situation, they hit a snag: no one is providing mandatory medical examinations because they have been suspended due to the epidemic. Even if the Labour Ministry says that the staff can get examined later, lawyers advise caution."
Meanwhile, companies that will have to temporarily lay off workers are calculating whether they will be able to call them back to work ever again, writes the paper, adding that the government aid for the time being is rather meagre, but that further measures announced are promising and "it is our hope the new government will in fact put them into practice - and as soon as possible too".