The existing outlets and approaches to employment in Slovakia have been mostly based on the linear continuation of preceding development and on the prolongation of defined links between economic growth, production and employment. This knowledge has undoubtedly been sufficient for certain developmental stages. With regard to the nature and rapid pace of factors, future development will be, with high probability, different and outlets hitherto selected will no longer suffice.
The significance of factors such as demographic development and the traditional structure of employment in the sectors and branches of the national economy is decreasing in a certain way and the growth in importance of systemic factors is coming into the foreground. The fourth industrial revolution, the digitization processes, the sharing economy, the decreasing economy and greening, currently lead not only to the transformation of traditional production systems, but also to changes to the complex understanding of production, services and consumption.
Changes to the future structure of the economy and society will be determined by such processes as the transformation of consumption by means of greening and the improvement of the quality of goods, such as a transformation of production that will be characteristic of personalization, and the transformation of services as a result of digitization. These processes will result in changes to Man’s functions in economic activities and changes to society's stratification. The above mentioned will reflect in vital changes to the structure of employment.
A deepening of supplier-customer relations, and “improvements” to offshoring and of outsourcing, has changed the nature of production. Robotization and smart technologies will change the nature of everything; they will extend to the vital sectors of society. Various combinations of factors and processes will lead to changes in space (regional level) and also time. Time will be a significant factor in terms of ensuring the competitiveness of businesses and countries.
If the 4th industrial revolution changes the overall nature of production, the personalized economy will change the whole of society.
One significant area is represented by the requirement of individualization, greening and the objectification of consumption, while another important area is the overall change in consumption. Issues such as size of consumption, the necessity and logicality of its further growth, or whether the consumption is financially and environmentally sustainable, cease to be partial, separate issues. They will become crucial economic and social issues as well. Therefore, what is vital is the pace and range of changes related to consumption, as well as the length of time necessary for adaptation.
It seems nowadays in Slovakia that development is relatively simple. Production and consumption are growing. Consumption is backed by loans; the indebtedness of households and businesses increases. A large proportion of production is exported. Also, despite the still high rate of long-term unemployment, there are not enough workers. Consequently, the average wage, and thus also consumption, is growing. For how long will this link persist if the growth of consumption is backed by loans, and in the key branch of the Slovak economy, in the automobile industry, extensive restructuring in the sense of greening is coming in? It is also necessary to add to this question that the above mentioned will soon be multiplied by the overall deployment of technologies leading to the 4th industrial revolution and by the effects of the sharing economy. And how then will all these processes change employment? New technologies call for creativity, complexity and inter-disciplinarity, particularly in combination with knowledge of context. Do we have such experts? If the main characteristics of a job will be its flexibility in terms of position and of its description, are we ready for this? These are some of the qualitative changes that will become the new paradigms of employment and of the whole economy.
The labour market in Slovakia can be characterized as rigid, not only due to less flexible legislation, but also due to unwillingness to change both on the part of employers and employees. It is possible to talk about the education system that it is heading into the future awkwardly and with great inertia not just in terms of content, but also in its structure. This way, the necessity of change is stressed.
The change in employees' positions, roles, remuneration and scope of work require an adequate reaction on the part of all participants and interested parties. However, the initiation of these changes is difficult to see.
It seems paradoxical that both hopes and threats resulting from the 4th industrial revolution are understood only linearly and in certain sequences. The sharing economy is still perceived as something that is here temporarily.
Significant differences between regions at the level of both Slovak administrative regions (kraje) and districts (okresy) are “overlaid” by the positive results of macroeconomic development hoping that it will “sort itself out” even without active effort. In fact, our participation forms part of the adaptation to new conditions, since we stand at the threshold of immensely important changes to the economy and society. Such a change is hinted at that concerns a change to the structure of economic relations, and radical changes to production, producing and services where Man's task is in economic process changes. The nature of Man, not just as producer and consumer, but also as economist and ecologist, will be different. This qualitative change that represents a new form of fusion of various human dimensions can be a certain solution to future problems and, at the same time, it can give a new sense to the overall understanding of employment. Employment will cease to be purely an economic phenomenon.
The technical aspect of civilization is developing very quickly and the changes to the natural environment are already significant. It is only Man who changes slowly. He would preferably keep job security, security of property and also of family. If put into context, it means that mankind is currently entering a long period of insecurity and vital changes for which it is necessary to “gird oneself up”. The regional dimension represents, at the same time, the spatial dimension of changes and also the catalyst for changes to the global world.
The necessity of human work remains. However, its deployment in space, its form, scope and description will change.
In the publication, we tried to outline in advance major changes that will very probably take place. At the same time, we provided the results of unemployment and wage development analysis at the level of branches, of Slovak administrative regions and districts also compared to the development in the Czech Republic and in Hungary. The individual conclusions to analyses document major interregional differences and their increase. It is up to the reader to consider what the message of this book is.