The Challenges of Ukrainian Refugees in Slovakia - Labour Market Integration Aspects with the Help of NGOs

Abstract

Since the Second World War, the war in Ukraine has led to the largest and fastest forced displacement in Europe, when millions of Ukrainians fled abroad. The European Union reacted very swiftly to this mass influx and activated the Temporary Protection Directive, granting Ukrainians special temporary protection status, including the right to work, until March 2024. Following national legislation, the Slovak Republic has provided Ukrainians with financial assistance, accommodation, medical assistance, access to its labour markets and education for their children by active participation of Slovak NGOs. The aim of this study is to examine the challenges that young Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia face. We use data collected through a qualitative research design interview based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Although it is currently very difficult to predict the duration and outcome of the war, we expect a proportion of Ukrainian refugees will remain in Slovakia, and the longer the war lasts, the greater the proportion of those who will settle permanently in the EU Member States. Effective labour market integration is one of the key elements of EU sustainability, as it ensures individual economic self-sufficiency and promotes civic participation in the social and cultural life of host countries.

1. Introduction

Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, has triggered the biggest migration crisis in Europe in the twenty-first century [1]. More than 11 million people have fled their homes in the 8 months of war in Ukraine [2]. More than 86 thousand people have arrived in Slovakia and requested temporary shelter, while this list does not include the 4410 refugees who have already gone back to Ukraine and officially handed in their documents [3]. According to the statistical information provided on the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) website, there are 111,548 refugees on the territory of the Slovak Republic; Slovakia ranks fifth in terms of the number of Ukrainian refugees admitted. Russia’s war against Ukraine has also significantly affected the economic situation in the country. More than half (53%) of Ukrainians who were working before the all-out war are now unemployed, 22% work regularly, 21% work remotely or part-time and only 2% have found new jobs. This is evidenced by the results of the nationwide survey Adaptation of Ukrainians to War Conditions, conducted on 19 March 2022 by the sociological group Rejting. Those most affected by the loss of employment were residents of the east of the country (74%), young people under 35 (60%) and those who left their city (66%). As a result of the war, the economic situation remained unchanged for only 18% of citizens, deteriorated significantly for 52%, and deteriorated faster for 28% [4].

Pędziwiatr and Magdziarz [5] argue that in the Visegrad Group countries (Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia) the wake of this humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale, the lack of experience, coupled with scarce infrastructure, insufficient legal framework and resourcing, and poor coordination of different stakeholder groups’ engagement, impeded and delayed implementation of the newly established policy tools have led to the lack of an adequate and timely state-coordinated response. Like in theory and many cases [6], when the state fails, the NGOs step in with their advocacy and service role.

Ukrainians refugees had to start a new life in Slovakia, and they were forced to go through various difficulties and barriers in the process of adaptation and integration. In the immediate aftermath of the outbreak of war in Ukraine, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Slovakia immediately mobilised to help the people of Ukraine. NGOs were dedicated to distributing basic material and food aid and providing initial psychological and social support. Non-profit organisations in Slovakia have provided humanitarian assistance to refugees from Ukraine at the border since 24 February 2022 and later implemented integration activities for more than 100,000 refugees from Ukraine. Also, more than 17 thousand volunteers were involved in assisting the refugees in 2022. The volume of humanitarian aid exceeded 11 thousand tons. Almost 17 million euros were collected in public collections for aid to Ukraine in Slovakia [7]. This process in Slovakia has shown that NGOs play an important role in understanding, supporting and integrating refugees and in how cities respond to their needs.

To be consistent, the role of other players helping the migrants from Ukraine should also be underlined to illustrate the whole picture of the labour market integration process. For example, socially responsible companies were trying to adapt their recruitment processes: advertising jobs offered in the language of migrants became common, and the vacancies suitable for migrants were specified and promoted via main platforms for online and offline recruitment, etc. The official data from the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Slovakia (available at https://www.upsvr.gov.sk) show that 39,307 migrants (22,029 women) from Ukraine were working in Slovakia in December 2023, which represented a 17.7% increase in their employment (22.2% increase for women) comparing to the situation in December 2022.

The integration of migrants into the labour market is a complicated process in which migrants face a great number of challenges and barriers. This study focuses primarily on those who have been forced to leave their country of origin. In the context of people from Ukraine, two terms are currently used – refugees and leavers. Refugees – foreigners who have been granted temporary refuge by the Ministry of Interior on the basis of a decision of the Government of the Slovak Republic; leavers – foreigners who have been granted asylum by the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic [8].

The present study focuses on aspects of labour market integration, which are an important part of labour market transformation in all EU Member States [9]. Labour market integration policies are implemented as a part of their migration policies on different scales, with most Member States combining mainstream and tailored labour integration measures. National policies generally aim at eliminating legal obstacles to access employment and related services, while also encouraging positive actions for integration. However, there are still important gaps between the aim and the implementation of integration policies, mostly concerning the design of effective delivery methods. The examples of measures reviewed in the European Migration Network [10] show that a wide range of tools, such as one-stop shops or e-learning tools, are used to enhance labour market access. Some of the more innovative delivery approaches connect migrants with the host community, seeking to create inter-community and inter-generational links where NGOs play a vital role. Other solutions by adopting a multiple focus, coupling, for example, skills training with career mentoring and/or networking, which appear to provide an effective gateway into employment. The private sector can add significant value to national labour market integration strategies, particularly around integration into the workplace. It can play an important role in filling gaps wherever public measures fall short, particularly due to a lack of or insecure public funding.

For the explanation of labour mobility dynamics, the concept of hierarchised mobility is applied by scholars, traditionally in the context of intra-EU labour mobility [11, 12, 13]. According to this concept, unequal opportunities for workers lead to different outcomes for different groups of mobile EU workers. To understand hierarchised mobility, both socio-economic factors and regulation factors are usually taken into account. However, the most recent studies also apply the concept of hierarchised mobility in the explanation of the extra-EU labour mobility dynamics (see for instance [14]). From this perspective, the overall impacts of immigration (the balance of positive and negative effects) depend not only on the composition of the immigrant population (low-skilled vs. high-skilled workers), substitution between migrants and natives (linguistic and cultural compatibility) but also on the large extent, it also depends on the flexibility of the local labour markets. This flexibility of the local labour market refers to the local institutional context in which various stakeholders (including NGOs) can play an active role.

The main aim of the present study is to explore and map the main barriers and challenges that young Ukrainian refugees face when integrating into the labour market in Slovakia. We see this topic as important because migration is a widespread phenomenon, and it significantly affects the current situation in Slovakia. The main research question we focus our attention on is: What are the job challenges of young Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia, and what are the current barriers they face in terms of labour market integration? A subquestion is: “What role do NGOs play in helping to overcome these challenges in Slovakia?”

2. Research design

This study used interviews based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which is the most recent contribution to qualitative approaches to data analysis, introduced by Jonathan Smith and his colleagues back in the mid-1990s. Qualitative approaches are becoming increasingly popular, especially in applied fields such as health care and counselling psychology. IPA is a qualitative approach that aims to provide a detailed exploration of personal experience [15]. Although it is a relatively new methodological approach, it has become increasingly popular in the humanities, social sciences, and health sciences in recent years. It has three main theoretical underpinnings. Phenomenology is a philosophical approach, originally formulated by Husserl, which aims to produce an account of lived experience in its own terms rather than in terms prescribed by pre-existing theoretical preconceptions [16]. In IPA, therefore, the researcher is making sense of what the participant is trying to understand about what is happening to him or her. As Smith et al. [15] suggest, IPA can complement traditional methodologies (which measure “objective” or “quantitative” variables) because it provides insight into survival, psychological distress, and personal identity. To this purpose in depth, semi-structured, undirected interviews based on IPA were designed [1] to understand participants’ job search needs, the current barriers they face [2], the internal processes that accompany the integration process [3], and through phenomenological interpretation to understand the subjective processes and meaning-making of the experience.

2.1 Sample and data collection

There were 10 participants in this research, and data collection was performed in November 2023 and February 2024. The research sample consisted of eight females and two males, aged between 24 and 35 years, with a total length of stay in Slovakia ranging from 6 months to 2 years. Criterion selection was used for recruitment based on the age of participants, 18 years, and their arrival in Slovakia after the war in Ukraine (February 2022). Participants are clients of Charity in Central Slovakia who visit the charity for counselling, food, or material assistance. Ukrainian refugees are a vulnerable group of people, so they were contacted through a Charity staff member. Participants for the research were approached by random selection, and they had to meet the above criteria. Then, we used the snowball sampling method [17]. Participation was voluntary and confidential. All procedures were conducted in accordance with the Ethics Committee of Matej Bel University, number 142a/2024.

2.2 Data analysis

All interviews were conducted in Ukrainian or in Slovak according to the preference of the participants, and they were transcribed and translated into Slovak with the consent of the participants for the purpose of the paper. The analysis was translated into English. For data analysis, we used thematic analysis, which is designed primarily for research in under-researched topics [18]. Thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing, and searching for themes within data. All participant data was anonymised. According to authors Barun and Clarke [19], the reflective thematic analysis approach offers a theoretically flexible method and was used to generate themes from participants’ narratives that are specific patterns of shared meaning. The author (AS) conducted the interviews, which led to the initial reflections on the data. After transcribing the interviews, each author read the transcripts in their entirety. Data analysis was conducted manually. AS led the thematic analysis, coding significant words and sections of text relevant to the research question and then synthesising these codes to create an initial mind map describing preliminary descriptive themes.

3. Results and discussion

Interviews were conducted with ten participants; the average interview length was 65 minutes, with interviews lasting between 40 and 90 minutes. The average age of participants was 28.7 years (Table 1).

Participant number	Gender/age
Participant 1	Female aged 26
Participant 2	Female aged 24
Participant 3	Female aged 37
Participant 4	Female aged 31
Participant 5	Female aged 32
Participant 6	Female aged 29
Participant 7	Male aged 20
Participant 8	Female aged 28
Participant 9	Male aged 25
Participant 10	Female aged 35

Table 1.

Characteristics of participants.

Source: own.

The analysis identified four overarching themes: (1) language barrier, (2) bureaucratic barriers, (3) lack of job opportunities, and (4) experience of discrimination.

3.1 Language barrier

Involuntary refugees are likely to encounter various difficulties due to a lack of knowledge of the language of the host country. Despite the fact that the Ukrainian language is close to Slovak, a significant language barrier was felt in the interviews. Participants often stressed the language barrier when looking for a job or directly in the process of performing work tasks. Several participants said that their speech was demonstrated in the job search process and after they had started their job. P4 stated, “I worked as a waitress in a restaurant for three days, but because I did not know the language, I was told that I could not continue working there and that the most I could do was wash dishes in the kitchen.” Authors Gorodzeisky and Semyonov [20] describe the difficulties that refugees may encounter in integrating into society, namely, integration into society, lack of familiarity with the country’s labour market when looking for a job, and other barriers that are mainly related to the language barrier. Participant 8 said in an interview that she considers the language barrier to be the biggest barrier to integration into the labour market. P8: “If a person wants to continue in their field and in the profession, they were doing in Ukraine, they cannot move without the language. I worked in a bank in Ukraine. I have a university degree in Economics, but no one wanted to employ me in the bank without knowing the language. Now I go and clean houses, I do not need the language there, but I’m trying to learn Slovak so that I do not have to clean for a long time. Life in Slovakia is more successful if you know the language.”

The results show that young Ukrainian refugees who were forced to leave their country because of the war have no motivation to integrate into the host country society as quickly as possible. Personal interviews highlight that all respondents from the involuntary refugees want to go back or move to another country, as documented by the statements of the following participants. P6: “I do not plan to stay here forever. For the time being, I am comfortable with it. I am still thinking of going to Canada where they will take better care of us. My friend went there, and they gave her housing and financial help right away. In Slovakia everything is complicated.” In personal interviews, they highlighted that most of the participant want to go back, and they are just waiting in Slovakia for their home to be a safe place to return to. P9 answered this question: “…when things calm down in Ukraine, I want to return home. Ukraine is my home, part of my family stayed there, I had a great job there, friends back home, everything…. it’s very difficult for me in Slovakia now. Suddenly I live in a stranger’s house, it is difficult for me to find a good job and I depend on the help of others….”

Their integration into the labour market will be longer and more difficult, as they need to know the language of the host country to read the contract and to do the work. Examples of this relationship between language and labour market integration can be traced in the personal stories of the respondents. P5 “I don’t want and don’t need to learn the Slovak language because I’m waiting to go back to Ukraine.” P1 mentioned the situation: “A situation happened to me when I signed an employment contract. I just signed it because I needed a job, but I didn’t understand the words. And then I found out that if it was a 40-hour week, everything I did in addition to that I wasn’t paid.”

3.2 Bureaucratic barriers

The second most common barrier for participants is the country’s bureaucracy. Filling out all the necessary documents, communication is conducted in a language that is completely foreign to the migrant. The experience of participants in Slovakia is characterised by long waiting times, confusion of information, issuing of expired permits, endless queues, prosecution of “blocked” applications and loss of documents.

Participants described misunderstandings, complicated application processes, and the bureaucratic process of setting up a business. P2: “The whole process is incomprehensible for us Ukrainians and I received different answers from different offices, it was very confusing. Yes, there are assistance centres in Slovakia that are supposed to help in the process of dealing with all the necessary documents.” As participant P2 mentioned in the interview, in the larger cities in Slovakia (Bratislava, Banska Bystrica, Košice), assistance centres were established as a result of the cooperation of the municipality, state institutions, NGOs, a private company that provided the premises, as well as other private companies that contributed financially. Thus, under one roof, the refugees from Ukraine had the opportunity to get the necessary information and assistance in dealing with official matters, apply for temporary shelter, and arrange for material needs benefits or accommodation through volunteer assistance. This possibility was perceived very positively by the interview participants and as a help with bureaucratic obstacles. Also, participant P8 confirmed that NGOs and Charity were involved in helping people from Ukraine “For example, charity and volunteers from NGOs helped us with clothing, I took Slovak courses, deal with papers when necessary and I also know that they do various workshops and leisure activities for children, which is great.”

Participant 8 mentioned: “Because if we were Slovak, we can get it done in two or three days, but since we are Ukrainian it takes much longer, and many more documents are needed. But the biggest problem is that there is no cooperation. You will not find any help at all. For example, my personal experience. I’ve been to the foreign police three times and three times I got different info. Someone is more like you need both this and that, and someone will say they do not need half of it. Who’s to know then.”

Participants reported that they were insufficiently informed about various bureaucratic processes in Slovakia. As participant 10 said: “I’m a hairdresser and I wanted to open my own salon, but it’s a very difficult process. However, the system has to be so simplified for those people who came after the war and want to get a job or do something and do not even understand how and do not know how to pay for it themselves and do not know how to arrange it themselves.”

We can conclude that bureaucracy is one of the biggest problems that foreigners face. In the state sphere in particular, administration as such is one of the biggest difficulties. Participants often referred to it as a complex bureaucracy where the foreigner would rather give up the process than continue to endure it. Similarly, on the private side, this problem was also mentioned most frequently. P2: “It’s terribly complicated, high bureaucracy, I’d rather give up than deal with the bureaucracy.”

3.3 Lack of job opportunities

As mentioned above, the participants first looked for a job in their field, but then found that there were not many opportunities in Slovakia that matched their previous experience and education. Furthermore, they emphasised that no one here needs their university degree or their experience, even if one has work experience. P3: “My profession does not suit me here at all, I used to work as an accountant and it’s very hard to retrain.”

Newly arrived refugees often find jobs requiring little education, regardless of the education they received in their home country. At the same time, migrants tend to be more overeducated than natives working in comparable positions [21, 22]. Although the mismatch between education and occupation is relatively persistent [23, 24], refugees have been able to move gradually into jobs that match their qualifications [24, 25, 26], as documented by participant P1’s statement: “It was really hard at first and I had few job opportunities to choose from. Now I earn about 800 euros net in Slovakia. For the first few months I cleaned hotel rooms, but gradually I got to lead a small team of female workers who run what I used to do back home in Ukraine”. The integration of refugees into the labour market has thus a U-shape, characterised by an initial decline in work status relative to the last job before migration and a subsequent increase in work status in the host country. Since occupation is closely related to income, migrants’ incomes also tend to be lower compared to the native population [27]. Although the income gap widens over time at least partially closes, the catch-up rate itself depends on educational attainment, with incomes of the native population most rapidly caught up by low-skilled immigrants [27].

Participants in the interviews agreed with the statement that, in their opinion, there a lack of job opportunities in Slovakia, and there are few job opportunities in what they have studied. They mentioned problems with the recognition of qualifications and education. P9: “They told us that diplomas are recognised in Slovakia, they will recognise a person’s degree before their name, but in order to go to work in the field in which they have a degree, they have to be ranked and registered in a certain chamber of professionals. My sister, a veterinarian from Ukraine, came here and she had many years of practice at home. They recognised her diploma, they added her degree to her documents, but the chamber of veterinarians did not recognise her education, so she could not continue her work in Slovakia.”

3.4 Experience of discrimination

In interviews with Slovaks, the refugees spoke in a positive way. But even though most had only positive experiences, stories were also told in which refugees had faced discrimination. Discrimination is still part of any integration. Discrimination can also be encountered when looking for a job, in pay differentials between women and men, or in age discrimination. It can affect every sphere of a person’s life. Discrimination is a form of distortion of equality. Discrimination against persons is therefore inevitably oriented towards them and on the basis of their belonging to a certain type of social group. However, it is also necessary that discriminatory action causes some disadvantage, harm or injustice to the persons against whom it is directed [28]. Participants described the following personal experiences. P3 states: “I’ve been in a situation where the beginnings were difficult, and I would take any job. First the company promised me that they would employ me, that I had a good education, I waited for about three weeks and then they told me they would not employ me, I do not know the reason of course, just that they did not need anybody anymore. I think it’s because I’m from Ukraine and they chose someone else, but I found that out later. I was sorry because I had been waiting three weeks for this job.”

Personal experience with discrimination in the workplace is also documented by the statement of participant 1: “I cleaned the house for three months. They paid me for it, and I finally found out that because I was from Ukraine and they could probably afford it, I was paid less per hour than my colleague from Slovakia, but I had a nicer job than the Slovak one”.

The overall situation regarding the experience of discrimination was assessed by P10: “It changed the situation overall, they started to perceive us in a different way, because before there was probably not such a large group of Ukrainians in Slovakia. Some of them are very nice, but even so, the people I know from Ukraine mostly do not do what they used to do in Ukraine, they just give us menial jobs. We also have good experiences with people who wanted to help us but also those who tell us that we are stealing their jobs in Slovakia. In my opinion, many employers realise that we are in need and that is why we will do any job for little money.”

Based on the information above, we can conclude that Ukrainians face more barriers to labour market integration and one of them is the experience of discrimination in the labour market. Several studies have looked at the prevalence of prejudice against refugees. According to an Esses study [29], prejudice and bias against refugees are common and can lead to discriminatory actions. Similarly, Fazel et al. [30], found that discrimination against refugees is common in the areas of work, housing and health care. Refugees have to leave their country and move to a new country in order to have better opportunities and survive. In the case of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Ukrainian refugees have migrated to nearby countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom and many others. Once refugees arrive in a new country, they often have less human capital that is locally usable. As a result, they are likely to start at a much lower level of wages and employability. The integration of refugees is likely to present significant difficulties [31]. According to Courtney Brell [31] study employment rates for refugees have been found to be relatively low at the beginning of their arrival in a new country, but often increase quite rapidly over time in the first few years after migration.

As the above has shown, when refugees leave their country of origin and seek asylum in another country, they encounter a range of difficulties and obstacles, both emotional and practical. Government, international agencies, and civil society must work together to develop a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to address these challenges. In addition to promoting social inclusion and combating discrimination, this includes ensuring access to legal aid, basic needs and services, mental health assistance, education and economic opportunities, and here we see a major role and assistance of NGOs.

4. Role of NGOs in overcoming the job challenges

There are many NGOs in Slovakia that, immediately after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, mobilised and started helping refugees in various forms: food, clothing, housing, translation and interpreting [32, 33]. In this part, we show several examples of NGOs that are mainly active in overcoming the barriers identified in the interviews.

Slovak Catholic Charity [34] operates a network of support centres for leavers and refugees from Ukraine in Slovakia. They are visited by people in difficult and complicated situations, and they are primarily vulnerable groups of leavers such as mothers with children, seniors, the disabled and others who cannot find work. Therefore, humanitarian aid is an essential part of their care. They support refugees and all people in need to integrate into society and help them become independent. Each support centre creates its own network of activities that tries to integrate leavers and refugees into society. Slovak Catholic Charity joined the Emergency Appeal project, which responds to unexpected circumstances and disasters in the world. Through the project, they have opened and operated 24 support centres across Slovakia. The aim is to provide humanitarian aid, counselling, language and vocational courses, psychological assistance, as well as workshops and leisure activities for Ukrainian refugees. As such, this NGO helps with the first barrier discussed – lack of knowledge of the Slovak language.

The next job challenges are connected with bureaucracy and discrimination. Examples of NGOs can be so-called Help Centres [35], which were established in the cities of Košice, Michalovce and Bratislava. Refugees are helped to overcome the barriers associated with bureaucracy and find employment. Activities of Help Centres are ensured by organisations Mareena and the League for Human Rights. Mareena [36] is a civic association that has been dedicated to the integration of refugees and other foreigners into Slovak society since 2017. Their vision is Slovakia, which is a safe and dignified home for everyone, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or religion. The League for Human Rights [37] is a Slovak non-governmental organisation that has been providing free legal assistance and information to foreigners and refugees in Slovakia since 2005. Thanks to the Help Centres, refugees can obtain information about moving to and staying in Slovakia, assistance in finding accommodation and employment, help with registration for financial support for vulnerable persons, and psychological help as needed. There is also the BLUE DOT service, which provides facilities for mothers with children and young people during the day. They also provide temporary accommodation and food for Ukrainians and their relatives in heated container rooms that are open 24/7.

In Slovakia, there is also The Red Cross organisation, which has established branches in 34 municipalities in Slovakia with first contact offices, which mainly provide basic social counselling, help in finding suitable accommodation, access to health care, help with placing children in school and preschool facilities, help when looking for a job, information about state assistance programmes and referrals to other aid organisations, assistance programmes and programmes for restoring families (Restoring Family Links), psychological first aid and referrals in the field of mental health and psychosocial support, recommendations for organisations and aid providers that the Slovak Red Cross does not deal with, material humanitarian aid and recommendations for legal aid [38].

Furthermore, there are various local organisations, such as ConnecTT – a support centre for foreigners arriving and living in Trnava, which, in addition to job mediation, also helps them in the field of education and information provision [39].

The city of Bratislava established the Bottova Assistance Center [40], which, in addition to job mediation, also provides assistance services, language courses, a community centre, material assistance, leisure activities, education and carelessness will heal.

The organisation TENENET Blue Dot Bratislava, in addition to providing employment, also focuses on financial counselling, providing information, psychological help, services for seniors, women and children, social care, accompaniment, leisure activities and caregiving [41].

The International Organisation for Migration [42] has eight branches in all regional cities in Slovakia. In addition to job mediation, it also provides refugees with assistance services, financial assistance, legal advice, social care, travel assistance, education, and language courses.

5. Concluding remarks

NGOs and activists in Slovakia have long been working on the issue of refugee assistance, but the attitudes of the general public towards refugees have changed in recent years. The so-called refugee crisis of 2015, which was largely the result of the war in Syria that has been ongoing since 2011, has caused many Slovaks to fear the arrival of refugees and have concerns for their own safety. After the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, there has been a large wave of solidarity in Slovakia. Attitudes of the general public towards refugees arriving from Ukraine were significantly more positive at the start of the conflict compared with previous refugee crises [43].

As Duce [32] pointed out, there is much more to helping the refugees than material assistance and accommodation. Supporting refugees has fallen on housing and homelessness organisations that are already struggling in the face of a regional housing crisis and lack of affordable social housing. The author discusses the implications of this and shares experiences from frontline organisations that have been forced to offer a full range of social services to refugees and respond to the crisis in real time. Among such services are also those presented in this chapter that help to overcome barriers to labour integration. The analysis identified four overarching themes: (1) language barrier, (2) bureaucratic barriers, (3) lack of job opportunities, and (4) experience of discrimination. There are quite few NGOs in Slovakia that play a vital role in assisting the refugees and leavers with these issues by humanitarian aid, (financial) counselling, providing information, language and vocational courses, psychological assistance, as well as workshops and leisure activities and many more.

Since this chapter is based on qualitative research, it is not possible to generalise the results for Slovakia. Future research could focus on “numbers”, apply qualitative methods and explore the Slovak context of labour market integration for refugees using mathematical and statistical methods. Another research venue opens for an international comparative study, including neighbouring countries such as V4 (Poland, Hungary, and Czechia). Furthermore, considering that many refugees are staying in Slovakia permanently, the housing issue needs to be taken care of. Here, it would be interesting to map the living preferences of Ukrainians. Previous research [44] has revealed that roughly 1000 Slovak students prefer “traditional” living in a smaller community. That is home ownership, a suburban environment rather than big city life. On the other hand, it is evident from a sample of approximately 100 foreign students who have arrived in recent years mainly from Ukraine, but also from Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, that they prefer the cosmopolitan life of big cities. This issue is subject of a research project “Application of behavioural economics in the mapping of preferences in the areas of housing, employment and transport mobility,” which is creating a methodology to map also the living and working arrangements and as such it can be applied to the Ukrainian refugee crises as well.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract no. APVV-22-0090.