INTRODUCTION
In 2000 the Employment Service of Slovenia (ESS) carried out the tasks laid down for the year by law, by the Employment Action Plan for 2000 and 2001, and by the Programme for the Education and Training of the Unemployed drawn up by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and endorsed by the Slovenian government. At the same time the ESS's tasks were directly set out by the Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment Act and by regulations based on this act. The ESS also performed a number of other activities laid down by other laws (e.g. Employment of Aliens Act, Training and Education of Disabled Persons Act, etc.) and government documents, in particular the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis.There was a continuation of favourable trends on Slovenia's labour market in 2000. The registered unemployment figures fell again (by 8.5% in comparison with December 1999), the number of recipients of unemployment benefit also fell, and the demand for workers intensified.
The activities of the ESS were just as strongly related to the economic situation. Economic growth continued in 2000, particularly as a result of economic growth in Slovenia's most important foreign trading partners; this led to an increase in output and export volumes. As a result of the favourable economic situation, labour demand grew by 4.3%; over the course of the year employers announced a demand for 154,911 workers. A further consequence of favourable employment trends was the fall in the number of people on the unemployed persons register, which fell by an average of 1.4 percentage points to 12.2%.
A total of 63,005 people joined active employment policy programmes; these help unemployed people to increase their chances of finding employment. Professional tasks of importance for the execution of active employment policy programmes were carried out in accordance with the adopted Business Plan. A new task related to this area was a project for the subsidising of jobs entitled "A Thousand New Opportunities", for which the ESS developed a whole range of professional procedures and signed contracts with those service providers who met the conditions set out in the tender invitation; it also began referring unemployed people to such jobs.
The ESS strengthened internal supervision of its own work, rationalised its organisation, improved its work with clients, and strengthened services in areas where unemployment was above the national average. Two new regional offices (ROs) began pilot operation in 2000 (Trbovlje and Ptuj). Special attention was given to the professional training of ESS staff, over half of whom passed a specialist professional exam.
With the assistance of expert advisers from Great Britain, Ireland and Sweden, the ESS made a start on the implementation of a Phare Twinning Programme entitled "Support for the Strengthening of Labour Market Organisations", with the aim of acquiring internationally comparable experience in areas related to the ESS's work and thus improving the efficiency of its work and the quality of services offered to clients.
