In 1999 the number of unemployed people fell in comparison with 1998 by 5.7% on average. In addition to favourable economic trends, contribution was made by the ESS's work on placement services, integration of unemployed people in various forms of active employment policy measures and more consistent supervision of how well the unemployed fulfil their obligations as laid down by the EUIA and executive acts deriving from it. In 1999 the ESS set itself with a goal of providing placement for 56,000 unemployed people. The ESS actually assisted 52.352 people to find employment, which means 93.5% fulfilment of the objective on average. The success rate in meeting the target varied greatly by region. In some regions the planned number of job-placements was exceeded (in Murska Sobota, Sevnica, Velenje), in others, they were behind the target (Ljubljana, Koper, Novo Mesto). These discrepancies in achieving the target were caused by numerous factors, dependent on the different conditions on labour markets in individual regions. Also prominent were discrepancies in the structure of unemployment, structure of people registered with the ESS, economic conditions, demand by employers, migration flows and other specific regional characteristics.

In general it can be said that employer demand in comparison with previous years increased (particularly in public administration, financial services, construction industry and retail). The ESS was unable to satisfy all employer demand due to the specific composition of the registered unemployed, where people above 40 and unskilled workers are in the majority. The job placement and consulting service was characterised in 1999 by closer cooperation with employers, as all sizeable LOs employed specialised advisors for this field while in smaller LOs this task was performed by the head of the office.

In Maribor RO a trial office for liaison with employers was set up. New premises were furnished, specifically for this purpose, where one expert staff member could supply employers with a quality service all in one place. A start was also made on a training programme for the staff working with employers, entitled "Marketing I, or building relationship with employers and other institutions". In 1999 the ESS jointly with the unemployed started to develop a new, in terms of content, richer employment plan, which is based on the provisions of the new EUIA. The aim of the newly-defined employment plan is to form a joint agreement between the counsellor and the unemployed person. This means a definition of such obligations and activities that will bring unemployed people back to work as quickly as possible. A signed employment plan is followed and if necessary, expanded, by the counsellor and the unemployed person. Such employment plans put more emphasis on the responsibility of the ESS and of the unemployed person for achieving the employment targets. Despite all new features and additions to the doctrine of work with unemployed people the ESS successfully completed employment plans for all newly-registered with the ESS in 1999. Employment plans were made for just under 70% of all unemployed. The permanency of staying on the record of unemployed people at the ESS is in many ways connected to the quality of the employment plan. In 1999 the ESS removed 93,047 persons from the record for various reasons. Of this total, 62,350 found employment, others rejected work, were inactive, refused to join active employment policy measures and other.

Table XI: Number of registered vacancies for workers and trainees, of referrals and of job placements between January - December 1999

* This column included all registered job vacancies apart from those in which employers wrote they do wish to employ foreign workers
** Without people included in public works

4.1.1.Job clubs

Table XII: Success rate of job clubs in 1999

In 1999, 1,682 jobless people or 19% more than in 1998 joined job clubs. Job-club programmes were run by 18 external providers. Some run only occasionally, but the majority ran throughout the year.

The success rate of job clubs is measured in terms of the share of unemployed people to find employment during the programme or within two months of its end. In 1999 the success rate was 55% or 4% more than the year before. The success rate varied slightly around Slovenia since employment opportunities are not the same in all ROs. Also, other positive results are measured, such as the rate of joining education, public works and training. In 1999 there were 61% positive results which means that nearly 800 unemployed people found some solution with the help of a job-club. Of the total joining the clubs 43% had vocational or lower level of education, 47% had completed secondary school, others had completed higher or university education.

The ESS assessed the work carried out by job clubs in 1999 as satisfactory. Unemployed people should perhaps be joining the programme sooner after registration with the ESS, as most job-club members have been registered with the ESS for over a year on average and that despite the fact that nearly half of them are young people, who could join immediately after the registration. After all, it is well known that the motivation to seek employment declines with duration of unemployment.

A number of new features were introduced to the area of employment programmes in 1999, which affected the implementation of active employment policy measures. The system of work had to be adapted to the new EUIA. Furthermore, a new governmental programme of active employment measures was adopted at the end of May and in June, the new Rules on Implementing Active Employment Policy Measures were adopted. All these legal and executive documents influenced the ESS operation and required adjustments of operational work.

The fundamental objectives of active employment policy programmes in 1999 were very similar to those from 1998. The general objectives of the Programme of Active Employment Policy Measures for Slovenia were thus as follows:

• to reduce unemployment
• to enhance the competitive standing of unemployed people
• to provide new employment opportunities for unemployed people
• to ensure the flexibility and adaptability of the labour market
• to encourage employers to introduce new forms of assistance to employees
• to ensure the social integration of unemployed people
• to reduce the negative effects of long-term unemployment.

The operational targets of the active employment policy for 1999 were the following:

1. to set up a unified system of adult education and training
2. to raise current attainment levels in formal education and qualifications
3. to equalise the employment opportunities of hard-to-employ categories of unemployed people
4. to provide assistance to companies in personnel restructuring processes
5. to encourage business acumen and creativity in young people, women and in rural areas
6. to encourage new forms of employment
7. to ensure efficient spending of budgetary funds on designated purposes.

The general as well as operational objectives derive from the key orientations which are in line with employment guidelines for EU member states in 1999. Because of the process of convergence with the EU and in order to ensure comparability of the employment system with systems in the EU, the National Action Plan for 2000 and 2001 was adopted in October 1999.

The key target groups of active employment policy programmes in 1999 were as follows:

• young unemployed people (under 26)
• older unemployed people (over 45)
• unemployed people with no qualifications or with qualifications which are unsuitable with regard to the demand on the labour market
• recipients of unemployment benefit, assistance and allowances from social work centres
• disabled and hard-to-employ people
• people working in those branches of the economy which are being restructured and redundant workers
• school children and students

Just as in previous years, in 1999 the principal stress remained focused on two key programmes of active employment policy: education and training programmes and public works. Article 48a of the new EUIA is particularly interesting for employers as it concerns reimbursement of contributions to employers.

The key new feature of the public works programme was the introduction of the status of employment for those who are participating in public works programmes. This change also considerably increased the costs of the measure; in 1999 double what was spent in 1998 was spent on public works.

Particularly notable were, apart for the effects of regular forms of education and training programmes, the effects of Programme 5000. By continuing the programme, a system of adult education and training, carried out by the ESS, was set up.

In line with a contract between the ESS and the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs all those programmes connected to personnel restructuring of companies, job preservation and resolving the issue of surplus workers in state-owned companies, were given to the ESS to be carried out.

Table: XIII: Participants in employment programmes, 1991 - 1999

Note:
*The number 30,889 includes those who newly-joined preparations for emloyment in 1998, those included in job clubs and those included in Programme 5000 in the 1998/99 academic year, which is in line with the Amended Programme of Active Employment Policy Measures for 1999, adopted by the Government on its 40th session on 14 December 1999.

Even at a glance at the table makes it clear that fewer people were included in active employment policy measures in 1999 than year before. Here it needs to be said that the number of people included in 1998 was 60% higher than in 1997 and that the largest fall in the number of people included in programmes occurred in the Project of Company Restructuring where the number does not depend on the ESS activities only. In addition to the programmes listed in the table, the ESS also carried out some assignments not included in the table: the restructuring and preservation of work places, developmental project funding (a public tender together with the Slovene Developmental Corporation), assistance to companies affected by floods, return system of assistance to business start-ups, new jobs in small companies, joint funding of creative work by young people.

The ESS continued (together with the Centre for the Promotion of Small Business) the project of encouraging the development of local promotion centres. On the basis of a new bid for tenders it gave its support to 27 such centres which in the future will provide assistance in the implementation of programmes by the ESS.

The projects initiated at the end of 1998 continued in 1999: cooperatives, local employment projects, return assistance to business beginners, project of local partnerships (a four step approach to job placement for unemployed people on local level) and labour funds. The key task of the ESS in 2000 is to incorporate those projects among its regular programmes.

The results of individual active employment policy programmes are described in the continuation. The ESS estimates that most of the 1999 objectives were met; in the future special attention will have to centre on the monitoring and supervision of active employment policy measures.

4.2.1. Education and training

In 1999, education and training programmes were joined by 23,018 unemployed people. The larges numbers of unemployed people joining education and training programmes were in the Ljubljana RO (6,462 people or 28.1%) and the Maribor RO (5,643 people or 24.5%). The smallest number joined in Novo Mesto RO (754 unemployed people or 3.3%).

Programmes of assistance in planning a professional career and in job-seeking:

This group of programmes which includes programmes providing information and increasing motivation, workshops on how to find employment and workshops on identifying career objectives were joined by 5,606 unemployed people or 24.4% of all those joining programmes in 1999.

• Programmes for providing information and increased motivation: their objective is to provide information on and increase the motivation for employment opportunities, education and training as well as other forms of active employment policy programme. In 1999 these programmes involved 1,162 people (53.6% of them under 26, 33.8% first-time job seekers) Over a half of the participants (55.1%) joined these programmes within the first six months of registration with the ESS.
• Workshops on how to seek employment are intended for those unemployed people who need help in orientating themselves on the labour market. The objective is to teach the unemployed the skills and knowledge they need for successful performance on the labour market. A total of 3,981 unemployed people attended such workshops; 46.7% of them were under 26, 40% were first-time job seekers and 60%were receiving unemployment benefit or assistance.
• Workshops on identifying career objectives: Their aim is to chart a continuing career path or identify a career objective. In 1999, 463 unemployed people joined, 49.3% of them were without professional qualifications. Most of the participants were young people under 26 (69.3%); the share of first-time job seekers was also high (42%).

Personal development programmes

These are designed with long-term unemployed people in mind, who have no professional qualifications, whose self-esteem has been damaged, who struggle to organise social interaction and who have no functional literacy. The main objective is to develop social skills, improve self-image, re-kindle working habits and build up a more positive attitude towards work and professional interests. In 1998 a total of 1,913 unemployed people joined these programmes (8.3% of the total joining the programmes), with the main groups being the long-term unemployed, i.e. people who have been registered with the ESS for over a year (62.4%) and unemployed people without professional qualifications (62.5%).

Additional training programmes

Additional training programmes are intended for those unemployed people who, if they wish to improve their employment opportunities, need additional qualifications and skills. In 1999 these unemployed people took computer courses, foreign language courses, courses on administrative skills, retail, bookkeeping and accounting work, transport and other.

On-the-job training programmes

These programmes can be carried out in two forms: either as training without employment or as on-the-job training.

• On-the-job training is carried out by working on a specific job for an employer who is unable to find a suitably qualified worker. In such case the employer prepares a training or introduction programme for the chosen unemployed person and the ESS shares part of the cost of this programme. A typical feature of these programmes is that the participant is regularly employed even while still training. The average duration of joint cost funding in 1999 was three months; the employer must employ the participant after the end of training for at least six months. In 1999, 5,040 unemployed people joined the programme, a total of 21.9% of all participants in 1999. The majority of participants were young people under 26 (58.2%) and people who have been registered with the ESS for over three months (71.4%).

• Training without employment. In 1999 this form of training was joined by 291 unemployed people (1.26% of all taking part in 1999; in comparison with 1998 the number of participants was down by 16.9%). The aim of the programme is to provide participants with the qualifications and skills they lack and with work experience for a certain job and with work after training. The programme is intended for long-term unemployed people and other hard-to-employ categories of people when employment contract cannot be obtained during the training. 56.7% of the participants were young people under 26 and 84.7% first-time job seekers.

Programme 5000

Objectives and types of Programme 5000: The basic objectives of the programme are to raise the educational level of unemployed people and reduce structural occupational discrepancies on the labour market. The programme started in the 1998/99 academic year, meaning that 1999 was its second year. Within this programme unemployed people can attend publicly accredited programmes in order to attain formal education at various levels, from primary school for adults to university courses. In the 1998/99 academic year the programme included adult education programmes (USO programmes: business secretary, bookkeeper and office clerk courses) which were no longer carried out in the 1999/2000 academic year as they are no longer valid.

The programme defines the types of education and the number of places set aside for unemployed persons within an individual academic year. In the preparation of the 1999/2000 programme the principle of partnership on local and regional levels between the ESS, i.e. its ROs, and the Chamber of Commerce and the Slovene Chamber of Crafts and their organisational units was applied. This type of approach guarantees that the actual needs of employers and the labour market on the local level will be taken into account and the shared responsibility of partners for implementing the programme.

Conditions for joining: An unemployed person who cannot be provided with suitable employment can join Programme 5000, the actual act of joining is based on the employment plan. In the 1999/2000 academic year the person is given the status of a person in education in keeping with Article 53b of the EUIA, and rights arising from unemployment insurance lie dormant during the study. People taking classes can obtain scholarships in line with the Rules on Scholarships, and are entitled to refunding of travel costs and refunding of contributions for compulsory health insurance. School fees for those who attend primary and secondary education are paid for by the ESS, i.e. the Ministry of Education and Sport, while students may obtain a student loan.

Key characteristics of implementing the programme in the 1998/99 academic year: the programme was joined by 7,932 unemployed persons; 6,197 joined in 1998. The educational structure of participants was as follows: 4,004 had attained first level of education (50.5%), 571 (7.2%) the second; 2,401 (30.3%) the third and fourth and 956 (12.1%) had attained at least fifth level; 60.3% were women. The age structure of participants: the programme is mainly intended for young unemployed persons hence the fact that 5,526 persons under 26 joined the programme (69.7%) was expected; of these 391 were under 18; 2,064 participants were aged between 27 and 40, and 342 were over 40. The programme was joined by 3,379 first-time job seekers (42.6%) and 1,116 recipients of entitlements for unemployment-insurance; of these 859 were recipients of unemployment benefit and 257 of unemployment assistance. With regard to the duration of registration with the ESS before joining education, the majority were long-term unemployed (44.8%); 2,993 (37.7% of all participants) joined within the first six months of registration.

Figure 16 : Participants in education and training by groups of programmes, 1994 - 1999

Figure 17: Number of participants joining education and training programmes, 1991 - 1999

4.2.2. Refunding of contributions to employers

Refunding of contributions to employers is a selective active employment policy measure, focusing mainly on companies. The aim of this type of measures which include the programme of refunding contributions to employers is to encourage employers to employ new workers, hard-to-employ persons, first-time job seekers, older and long-term unemployed and recipients of financial assistance who are participants in passive forms of employment programmes. Programmes that encourage the opening-up of new jobs are also the shortest and the most direct way of ensuring regular employment for unemployed people and at the same time a form of cost- and responsibility-sharing between companies and public institutions responsible for providing assistance to the unemployed and for the implementation of active employment policy. The refunding of contributions to employers is carried out as a programme which is predominately market-oriented in order to secure a combination of the following effects: securing permanent forms of employment for target groups of unemployed people, encouraging demand for workforce on the labour market, increased efficiency of the supply of workforce on the labour market and helping target groups to remain in touch with the labour market.

The rights of an employer taking on an unemployed person are as follows:

• for an unemployed person who has been registered with the ESS for over one year without interruption, the ESS reimburses the employer with half the contributions paid by the employer over two years
• for an unemployed person over 50 who is receiving unemployment benefit or assistance under the EUIA or who is receiving cash benefits under social security regulations, the ESS reimburses the employer with half the contributions paid by the employer over three years and with a quarter of the amount for every additional year
• for a first-time job seeker who has been registered with the ESS for at least six months, the ESS reimburses the employer with half the contributions paid by the employer for two years and with a quarter of the amount in the third year
• for a recipient of unemployment benefit or assistance, the ESS reimburses the employer with contributions for a period which is twice as long as the period for which the recipient would have received the benefit or assistance until the end of the entitlement
• for a self-employed person the ESS reimburses the contribution for three years (the first year in full, the second year half the amount, and the third year a quarter of the amount)
• an employer with a maximum of 50 staff who employs an unemployed person or a worker who has been made permanently redundant is reimbursed by the ESS with contributions for three years (the first year in full, the second year half the amount, and the third year a quarter of the amount).

The legislative changes in 1999 caused a significant increase in the implementation of this programme. In comparison with 1998 as many as 229% (6,223) more unemployed people and redundant workers found employment in 1999. Employment with refunding of contributions amounted to 7.7% of all newly registered with the ESS as unemployed people in 1999 (80,778) and 10% of all who in the same year left the record of unemployed people and became employed (62,350). Of the 6,223 new cases in 1999, 4,789 (77%) were unemployed people who joined the programme by being taken on by an employer with a maximum of 50 staff. Of the remaining 1,434 to have been employed with the help of the programme 843 (13.5%) were self-employed, 296 (4.8%) were employed under the programme of refunding of contributions for recipients of unemployment benefit or assistance, 157 (2.5%) had been unemployed for over a year, 79 (1.3%) were redundant workers taken on by an employer with a maximum of 50 staff, 41 (0.7%) were first-time job seekers and 18 (0.3%) were over 50.

4.2.3. Facilitating self-employment

Modern economic developmental trends require different, much more creative and flexible skills. Facilitating self-employment is one of the EU directives on employment from the 2nd pillar of the EU employment policy. Within this project new projects promoting self-employment are being carried with great speed, providing unemployed people with various forms of education, training and consultation through:

• informative seminars
• three-day introductory seminars for future businesspersons
• in-depth forms of training and workshops
• the Development and Implementation of Subsidised Consulting on the Basis of Referrals project
• self-employment in rural areas
• introduction of cooperatives
• return financial assistance to business start-ups
• business support circles
• the development of business acumen and creativity in young people

Financial support at the start of business operation

Financial support at the start of business operation is intended for unemployed people taking part in a programme of training for self-employment who have prepared all the procedural documentation and a business plan, and who have examined the possibilities for the realisation of their business idea and self-employment. Financial support can be obtained in various forms: as a non-returnable sum in the equivalent of six guaranteed wages (for disabled people in the equivalent of ten guaranteed wages), as refunding of contributions in line with Article 48a of the EUIA or as returned financial assistance in the amount of one million SIT and refunding of contributions in regional centres where the guarantee fund has been founded.

In 1999, 1,643 unemployed people became self-employed of whom 839 received the subsidy, 696 used the refunding of contributions and 77 would-be self-employed entrepreneurs used return financial support.

Table XIV: Facilitating self-employment, 1991 - 1999

Note:
* financial assistance to newly self - employed people in the form of non-return funding, return funding, of contributions of newly self-employed people

The predominant legal form of self-employment remains the sole trader. The areas most often selected include retail, construction, business services, transport and very often agriculture.

4.2.4. Training and employment for disabled people and the subsidising of sheltered workshops

Disabled people receive special professional help as part of the basic mission of the ESS. Work with disabled people is conducted by specialist occupational therapists. The objective of occupational therapy is to help disabled people to find a new job or preserve their current one, and to progress in their professional careers, which in turn facilitates their integration or re-integration into society at large.

The conditions for the provision of the professional services of training and job placement for disabled people depend chiefly on trends in the field of employment for disabled people. The share of disabled people among the unemployed continued to grow in 1999, standing at 13% at the end of December (8.5% at the end of December 1997 and 9.8% at the end of December 1998). A total of 2,350 people (16%) were added to the list of unemployed disabled people. The ESS noticed that the influx of disabled people fell slightly and that the unemployment structure among the disabled has also changed.

Disabled status is conferred by the binding legal decision of a competent body for the following:

• occupational disabilities under the Pension and Disability Insurance Act;
• war disabilities under the War Disabilities Act;
• disabled young people under the Education of Children and Young People with Physical and Mental Development Disorders Act;
• disabilities under the Training and Employment of Disabled People Act (hereinafter: the TEDPA).

Figure 18: Registered unemployed disabled persons by type of disability 1989 - 1999

Most of the 14,787 disabled people who were unemployed at the end of December 1999 were occupationally disabled (over 80%).

Far more worrying than the numbers is the structure of this group and the related employment opportunities with regard to:

• levels of education: over 55% of disabled people had attained the first level of education, and more than 20% had attained the second level
• age: 36% are aged between 40 and 50, 38% are over 50
• the waiting period: 76% of all disabled persons have been registered with the ESS for over two years

In order to increase their chances of finding employment, the disabled are included in various education programmes, both theoretical and practical. The points of departure in the selection of programmes are the abilities and skills of each individual. The work is therefore based on the abilities retained by the disabled person rather than on his/her limitations. In the formulation of rehabilitation plans, an important role is played, in addition to that of the occupational therapist, by the medical advice service and expert boards which establish the abilities of disabled people under the TEDPA. In 1999 over 60 experts (15 from the ESS and 45 external partners) were working for the first- and second-instance expert boards and the medical advice service.

A medical advice service has been part of the ESS's regular range of services since 1995. This service is available to unemployed people seeking a job or planning to train, as well as to students and schoolchildren who choose to join such training. What they all have in common is that they have medical problems which make it difficult for them to find an appropriate profession or job. The main tasks of the service are to issue opinions on the employability, further treatment, occupational therapy or medical treatment when:

• choosing a suitable profession, making referrals to education programmes
• being introduced to the expert board
• making referral to a rehabilitation therapy
• adapting to the work place.

Table XV: Number of people who used the ESS medical service in 1999

By the end of December 1999 the number of sheltered companies exercising the right to refunding of costs had increased by 8. At the end of December 1999 there were 133, the number of disabled people they employed increased by 529 to 5,424 at the end of December. The subsidy is paid pursuant to the Rules on the Criteria for Refunding Part of the Costs to Sheltered Companies, which have been in force since September 1997. Most sheltered companies were in the area of Ljubljana RO (43) and Maribor RO (27) and the fewest in Murska Sobota (2) and Nova Gorica (3).

Sheltered companies remain almost exclusively the only way of dealing with the issue of job placements for disabled people, but are not suitable for all types and categories of disabled persons or hard-to-employ people. A more suitable and particularly effective strategy of employing disabled people has been supplied with the National Education and Employment Programme for the Disabled.

4.2.5. Public works

In line with the new EUIA, public works were carried out as local or national employment programmes organised in order to execute social security, education, cultural, nature protection, public utility, agricultural and other programmes with the aim of reducing unemployment, replacing passive forms of assistance with active forms; to encourage the opening up of new jobs and the development and preservation of the working habits of unemployed people.

The main objectives were the following: to preserve and develop working habits, knowledge and skills of unemployed people; to provide social security for unemployed people; to encourage demand for labour; to encourage self-employment in similar types of work; to open up new market niches and to encourage development of local communities and their involvement in search for solutions to the employment issues.

The priority target groups identified by the 1999 public work programme were the following:

In 1999, the ESS carried out 2,412 public work programmes involving 10,296 jobless people. Monthly, an average of 5,450 unemployed people were included. In comparison with 1998 the increase in the average number of participants was 117. Of all public works, 851, involving 552 people, were initiated by those working on the Creating Public Works project. The share of unemployed people participating in public works in relation to the total number of unemployed people doubled in the last two years; in 1998 it amounted to 8.4% and in 1999 to 8.7% of all unemployed people (in previous years, it was 4.3% at most).

Table XVI: Recipients of unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance and allowances included in public works programmes by region in 1999

Note:
* icluding participants in public works - preservation of jobs (474 people)
** only unemployed people participating in public works are included in the calculation - excluding preserved jobs

Public works programmes of national importance

Since their inception, public works programmes have been developed which are carried out in an area covered by several ROs or throughout the country.

The Assistance to Elderly People and those in need of Home Help programme has been running since the first experimental beginnings of public works in 1990, and saw a large number of participants find employment in social work centres in 1999. Participants are expected to obtain certificates confirming that they are qualified to perform such work and thus be given self-employment opportunities.

The Assistance in Temporary Refugee Centres programme is a programme of the Governmental Office for Immigration and Refugees and has been running since 1992. The highest number of participants was 247 people working in 53 refugee centres.

The Psycho-Social Assistance for Victims of Crime programme was developed in 1998. It involves 23 unemployed people, who received professional training on giving assistance. The programme is being carried out in ten centres across Slovenia. The unemployed persons working on this programme are expected to become regularly employed on the programme.

The largest number of jobless people took part in agricultural programmes (hop-, fruit- and grape-picking), which the government has adopted as a state subsidy to those agricultural activities which are undergoing restructuring. They involved around 1,700 jobless people. These public works were organised by commercial farm producers' associations. The government appointed a project group to monitor the public works in agriculture project. It prepared a proposal for long-term solutions for employment and seasonal work in agriculture.

In 1999 a public works programme called Additional Active Employment Policy Programmes was being carried out by the ESS which involved 103 unemployed people in all ROs.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Education the ESS organised a public works programme called Learning Assistance as a form of public assistance to unemployed people attending education programmes, which included 70 tutors providing help with learning to 3,000 unemployed people.

At the initiative of the organisations of disabled people the ESS in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Sport organised the programme of Physical Assistance to Regular Students with Moving Difficulties who need permanent help. This programme included 55 participants who, once suitable school legislation has been adopted, will be able to become regularly employed. The Rock project included four unemployed people who will educate young people through various street projects around Slovenia.

In 1999 the Development of Personnel in Social Care programme was developed which involved 110 unemployed people. The purpose of the programme is to train professionals for independent work in social care in governmental and non-governmental organisations.

The Assistance to Those Working With Illegal Immigrants public works programme included 14 unemployed people who helped to organise life in the Transitional Home for Foreigners.

4.2.6. Regional and local employment projects, and local development initiatives

Regional and local employment projects

Based on a public tender for programmes, providers and employment projects in 1998/99, 46 local employment programmes were chosen from among 60 proposals to arrive from the following areas: agriculture, tourism, social services, trades, public utility and incubators. In 1999 there were, in addition to 16 cooperatives and one learning workshop, also 24 local employment programmes.

6 projects were successfully completed by the end of 1999. These were as follows: Home Help in the Municipality of Železniki and Home Help in the Municipality of Gorenja Vas, Poljane and Žiri and the Development of Auxiliary Activities on Farms (provider MPC Škofja Loka); Founding of a company for Development and Landscaping in the Municipality of Vitanje, (provider SIC Slovenske Konjice); Development of Potential for Tourism and Marketing of Tourism (provider RC Lendava) and Local Employment Programme (provider ROD Ajdovščina).

The data shows that most of these projects are developing successfully. It should be emphasised at this point that more than one year (at least two) is needed for their completion, as many of them are of explicitly experimental, i.e. developmental character.

4.2.7. Labour funds

The purpose of labour funds is to set up and bring together the resources of all social partners in order to actively engage redundant workers and other people who have become permanently redundant and who according to the staffing and company business plans, cannot be expected to be provided with employment in the long term.

Labour funds allow participants to improve their employment opportunities on the labour market and, in cooperation with local, national and other employment projects, encourage the opening-up of new jobs. By establishing professional and organisational links on the national and other levels and through their approach, labour funds help to raise the quality of active employment policy measures.

By the end of 1999, eleven labour funds were founded. These were the Celje Regional Labour Fund, Ribnica Labour Fund, the Posočje Region Labour Fund, Zasavje Region Labour Fund, Railway Workers' Labour Fund, the Koroška Region Labour Fund, Ljubljana Labour Fund, the Dolenjska Region Labour Fund, Gorenjska Region Labour Fund, Svila Labour Fund and the Posavje Region Labour Fund.

In 1999, Slovene labour funds could boast 1,058 participants, of whom 316 were unemployed people. In addition to redundant workers, labour funds therefore included just under 30% unemployed people.

They held 49 workshops on developing a professional career, run by 44 trained instructors. A total of 837 participants completed the workshops by the end of the year.

In 1999 labour funds helped 472 people to find work or became self-employed, 21 joined public works, 31 joined education courses for more than 20 months, 120 joined employment projects, 15 found other solutions (retirement for example), which in total amounts to 659 people.

4.3.	SUPERVISION OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE

In line with the EUIA and the Rules on the Manner and Procedure of Supervising Unemployed People the following is examined during a supervision in particular:

• whether the unemployed meet the conditions for exercising and preservation of the status of an unemployed person;
• whether unemployed people are fulfilling the obligations agreed on in their employment plans;
• whether unemployed people fulfil their obligations as unemployed people and meet other conditions from the contracts of referral to active employment policy programmes;
• the availability of unemployed people for employment;
• active involvement of an unemployed person in seeking employment;
• the obligations of unemployed people regarding cooperation with the ESS in the procedure of employer's selection for job vacancies;
• the conditions for exercising or preservation of the right to unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance;
• whether the unemployed person submitted correct information on the changes to the data which is decisive for whether the person will acquire or loose the rights arising from the EUIA and whether it was submitted on time;
• whether the information on other incomes of an unemployed person receiving unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance is correct and was submitted on time;
• information on the property situation of the unemployed person and his/her family members if they are recipients of unemployment assistance;
• whether the obligations arising from the contracts signed between the ESS and legal or natural persons on provision of employment activities are being fulfilled.

By 31 December 1999, the Supervisory Service started 494 supervisions most of which were proposals to examine whether unemployed persons are fulfilling their obligations (480 proposals). 14 were proposals to supervise legal entities or contractual partners of the ESS. Of 480 proposals for supervision, 59 were made anonymously, 170 were made by ESS staff and 241 proposals were made by the Supervisory Service under its work programme. There were 12 other proposers. Anonymous reports were mainly made in connection with illegal work by unemployed person and their receiving unemployment benefits or assistance. Specifically for the purpose of dealing with this issue the Supervisory Service first established links with the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs whose responsibility is to handle the issue. The Service also entered into arrangements with the Labour Inspectorate of Slovenia, Market Inspectorate and Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia according to which these directly pass on the cases within its jurisdiction and vice versa. Of 14 proposals for supervision of contractual partners or providers of programme, 6 were made by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, 6 by the management of the ESS, and 2 by ROs.

Table XVII : Proposals for supervision by Regional Offices in 1999

Of the total number of cases the Supervisory Service by 31 December 1999 completed 358 cases. Of 136 still cases still open, 120 arrived in December 1999. A supervision which has been started is considered to be completed once the Supervisory Service receives a notice from an authorised official of the ESS on the executed measures (for example, termination of entitlement to unemployment assistance, demand to return payment that the person was not entitled to, termination of payments to providers, etc.). This means that those cases of supervision which were not completed in 1999 are still in progress or the report on the measures to be undertaken is due.

In those cases which were completed (