2007 Annual Report

In 2007 there were on average 71,336 registered unemployed persons in Slovenia; for the fifth year in succession, this was the lowest average number of registered unemployed persons, or 16.9 % less than in 2006. At the end of the year there were 68,411 persons registered at the ESS. The registered unemployment rate was down by 1.7 percentage points in comparison with 2006, standing at 7.7 %.

In 2007, a total of 73,544 unemployed people newly registered with the ESS, which was a fall of 18.5 % on 2006. The structure of newly registered persons was similar to previous years. The largest category of newly registered persons in 2007 was made up of those whose fixed-term employment had ended (28,253 persons or 38.4 %). A fifth of the newly registered persons were first-time job seekers (14,744 persons or 20 %), and 10,354 persons (14.1 %) were registered as permanently redundant workers or as persons unemployed owing to bankruptcy. A total of 27.5 % of newly registered persons registered for other reasons (consensual termination of employment, the completion or suspension of public works, termination of operations by employer, etc.). Relative to 2006 there was a reduction in the new registration of all categories of unemployed persons mentioned above. The biggest reduction in new unemployed registrations was from long-term redundancies and bankruptcies (down 25.4 %), while the number of registrations of first-time job seekers fell by 20.7 %, there were 15.3 % less registrations owing to the completion of fixed-term employment and 17.2 % less registrations for other reasons.

Outflow from unemployment in 2007 was 20.1 % less than in 2006. The total departure from the unemployment register involved 83,436 persons, of whom 49,117 found employment. For reasons other than employment, a total of 31,746 persons were deregistered or deleted, and 2,573 persons were transferred to other records, of whom 759 persons disabled through work were placed in the record of persons registered at the ESS pursuant to other laws.

The structure of unemployed persons changed in 2007. There was a reduction in the proportion of female, first-time job seekers and unemployed persons aged under 26. The reduction in the proportion of first-time job seekers and young persons was partly the result of amended legislation, for school pupils, students and those enrolled in adult education under 26 years old can no longer register as unemployed persons, unless they are entitled to unemployment benefit. In 2007 there was an increase over 2006 in the proportion of those 50 years and older, long-term unemployed persons, long-term redundancy and bankruptcy workers, disabled persons and unemployed persons with the lowest level and also the highest level of education.

For the sake of comparability of unemployment with other countries, it should be pointed out that the level of surveyed unemployment (converted according to the Eurostat methodology) in 2007 amounted to 4.7 %. In the European Union (EU-25), the unemployment rate was 7.2 %, which means that the surveyed unemployment rate for Slovenia was lower than the European average. A higher unemployment rate than that in Slovenia was recorded for instance by Slovakia (11.3 %), Poland (9.6 %), Germany (8.4 %), France (8.3 %), Spain (8.3 %), Portugal (8.0 %), Belgium (7.5 %), Hungary (7.2 %), and a lower rate was recorded by the Netherlands (3.2 %), Denmark (3.7 %), Cyprus (3.9 %), Austria (4.4 %) and Ireland (4.5 %).

	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Index 07/06
Persons in employment	808,677	801,383	807,49	813,1	824,839	853,998	103.5
-Persons in paid employment	721,396	722,141	724,387	731,596	741,586	766,049	103.3
-By legal persons	654,599	655,977	658,745	666,174	675,060	696,116	103.1
-By natural persons	66,797	66,164	65,642	65,422	66,526	69,933	105.1
Self-employed persons	87,281	79,242	83,104	81,503	83,252	87,949	105.6
-Individual private enterpreneurs	44,201	43,308	43,029	43,501	44,766	46,415	103.7
-Own-account workers	6,211	6,424	6,56	6,645	6,752	6,888	102.0
-Farmers	36,868	29,509	33,515	31,356	31,733	34,646	109.2

Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Data on persons in paid employment and self-employed persons (excluding farmers) are obtained from the Statistical Register of Employment. The source of data on farmes is the Labour Force Survey

Note: *From January 2005 the SORS obtains data on persons in paid employment and self-employed persons (except farmers) from the Statistical Register of Employment (SRDAP). Due to the change in data source, the number of persons in paid employment has increased by 25,000. Because of that the registered unemployment rate is down by about 0.3 %. For comparison the SORS prepared calculated tables from SRDAP for the period January 2000 – December 2004, which are also used in this table.