January 5, 2018
The STA reports that despite a seasonal monthly spike in the number of people out of work, Slovenia's registered jobless total in December was still down 14.6% compared with the same month a year ago.
A total of 85,060 people were registered as unemployed with the Employment Service at the end of December, a rise of 3.2% from the month before.
Of the total, 8,225 registered anew in December, 27.4 more than in November, but 8.8% fewer than in December 2016. Most (5,341) saw their fixed-term job contracts expire.
Of the 5,580 who were checked out of the unemployed register in December, 3,694 found a job or became self-employed. The latter figure is a drop of 22.8% from November and a drop of 7.6% December 2016.
In the whole of 2017, 82,379 were newly registered as being out of a job, which is 8.4% fewer than in 2016. More than half (45,889) saw their fixed-term jobs end, while 12,344 were first-time job seekers.
Compared to the year before, the service registered 13% fewer first job seekers, 13.8% fewer redundant workers and 7.2% fewer of those whose fixed-term contracts lapsed.
A total of 96,934 were removed from the register of unemployed, 68,602 because they found a job. This is 8.4% fewer than in 2016.
Regionally, the unemployment total dropped across the country compared with a year ago, but rose from November, the most so in Pomurje (7%) and the least in Nova Gorica (0.8%).
The Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD), the government's macroeconomic forecaster, told the STA that positive trends have been recorded in most EU countries; especially those that were hit particularly hard by the crisis.
It added that the positive trend was affected, among other things, by a smaller number of first-time job seekers due to better job availability and the fact that generations leaving school now are smaller than those in the past.
