STA, 16 January 2019 - Migration flows are becoming increasingly important for the Slovenian economy, the central bank says in its monthly bulletin. Banka Slovenije notes a workforce shortage for occupations requiring intermediate qualifications, meaning that employers have started to hire foreign citizens.
"With Slovenians moving away, the hiring of foreigners has preserved a positive net migration since 2015."
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"However, on average the structure of the foreign worker population in terms of education and vocation is poorer than that of domestic workers."
Unless Slovenia starts producing higher value added and introduces direct measures to prevent brain drain, the country's productivity growth could become too low to keep up with the most developed countries, and the effects of an ageing population all the more pronounced, Banka Slovenije said.
Brain drain is lost potential for the state that has invested into the education of highly-trained work force now leaving the country, it added.
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The central bank believes brain drain happens for a number of reasons, among them a relatively low value added of a large part of the economy.
Also touching on exports, the bulletin says that the international environment is becoming less advantageous for Slovenia's exporters, as growth in the EU as well as globally has been slowing down.
Although the estimate of economic growth for Slovenia's trade partners is somewhat lower than in 2018, the outlook still indicates "solid conditions" for the exporting companies.
