2004 Annual Report

_{Employment and unemployment trends}

There were 90,728 registered unemployed people in Slovenia at the end of 2004, which is for the third year running the lowest number of registered unemployed people since 1991, and a fall of 5.5% on the previous year. On average, 92,826 unemployed persons were registered with the ESS in 2004. The registered unemployment rate was down by 0.6 percentage points in comparison with 2003 (i.e. 10.4% at the end of 2004).

In 2004, 95,565 unemployed people newly registered with the ESS, up 1.4% on the previous year. The structure of newly registered people was similar to that seen in previous years. The largest category of newly registered people in 2004 was made up of those whose temporary employment had ended (34.6%). Over a quarter of newly registered people were first-time jobseekers (25,988, or 27.2%), and 13,659 (14.3%) were registered as permanently redundant workers or as persons unemployed due to bankruptcy. A total of 23.9% of newly registered people registered for other reasons (consensual termination of employment, the completion or suspension of public works, termination of operations by employer, etc.). In comparison with 2003, the number of people newly unemployed as a result of bankruptcy and of people made redundant fell by 5.4%; the number of newly registered first-time jobseekers rose (by 2.2%), as did the number of newly registered persons whose temporary employment had ended (2.6%) and the number of people who registered for other reasons (3.2%).

In 2004, 3% more people left unemployment than in 2003. In total, 100,830 people left registered unemployment: 54,257 found employment (a rise of 7.4% on 2003), 44,305 left or were removed from the register for reasons unrelated to employment, and 2,268 were transferred to a register of people registered with the ESS pursuant to other laws.

The unemployment structure improved in 2004, with the share of long-term unemployed people (unemployed for over one year) falling from 46% in 2003 to 44.5% in 2004, and the share of those aged over 40 falling from 43% to 42.3%. Forty-one per cent were people without professional qualifications (a fall of 1.8% on 2003). The average duration of unemployment also fell, and has fallen by ten months over the last three years.

For the purposes of comparing unemployment rates with other countries, it should be pointed out here that the survey unemployment rate (measured using ILO methodology for the last quarter of 2004) fell by 0.5 percentage points in comparison with 2003 – in 2004 it was 6.1%. In the 25 member states of the European Union, the unemployment rate was 9%, which means that the survey unemployment rate for Slovenia was lower than the EU25 average. The survey unemployment rate was higher in Poland (18.9%), Germany (9.8%), France (9.5%), the Czech Republic (8.4%), Sweden (6.6%) and Portugal (6.5%), among others.