STA, 22 September - The average gross pay in Slovenia in July stood at EUR 1,941, down 0.6% nominally and 0.2% in real terms on June. Totalling EUR 1,250, the average net pay was down 0.5% in nominal terms and 0.9% in real terms, the Statistics Office said on Wednesday.

The average gross pay for July dropped by 1.4% in the public sector over June, while increasing by 0.1% in the private sector.

Broken down by sectors, it was the highest in financial and insurance companies, at EUR 2,701.

The highest month-on-month increase was meanwhile recorded in education (+6.5%) and the sharpest decrease in health care and social care (-7.1%), mostly because hazard bonuses stopped being paid as the coronavirus epidemic was formally declared over.

STA, 19 September - The pay gap between men and women in Slovenia narrowed slightly in 2020, by 3.6 points annually to 2.2%, preliminary figures released by the Statistics Office show. The gap in the private sector stood at 6.5% and at 10.7% in the public sector.

Average monthly net pay in the country increased by 5.4% to EUR 1,252 in 2020 over 2019.

Men's average monthly net pay was 0.7% above the average, while women's was 0.8% below the average.

Average net pay increased last year over the year before for men and women, with women's increasing by 7.3% and men's by 3.9%.

Almost 64% of Slovenia's employees received lower monthly net pay than the national average.

The median of the monthly net pay - a value splitting the population into two equal parts - stood at EUR 1,066, and was practically the same for men and women.

Men with higher education meanwhile earned the most last year, with their average monthly pay at EUR 1,774 net, 42% above the national average.

Women with the same level of education earned much less, EUR 1,529 net a month.

The average monthly net pay dropped under EUR 1,000 in the category of women with secondary education, to stand at EUR 977.

For those who have completed only primary school, it stood at EUR 917 for men and EUR 832 for women.

Average monthly pay was below the national average in more than half of all sectors, and below EUR 1,000 in four, the lowest in hospitality - EUR 884.

The electricity, gas and steam supply sector meanwhile had double the monthly net pay in hospitality, followed by financial services and insurance.

More on this data

STA, 12 August 2021 - There were more than 20,500 job vacancies in Slovenia in the second quarter of the year, up almost 25% from the first quarter, with demand for workers strongest in hospitality and in culture and entertainment. The country's vacancy rate thus rose to a quarterly record of 2.6%, the Statistics Office (SURS) said on Thursday.

As part of the second wave of the epidemic, lockdown restricting some businesses was in place from 19 October 2020 to 16 May 2021, or more than half of quarter two.

But it was in this period that employers started looking for workers more intensively after an almost six-month lull, which made quarter two very dynamic, SURS said on Thursday.

Demand for workers was recorded across all sectors, but doubled in hospitality and in culture and entertainment, both of which were practically fully closed during the epidemic.

A rise in demand for new workers in quarter two increased by 90% or by some 9,700 over the second quarter in 2020, when the country was deep in its first lockdown.

The annual growth was the most robust in manufacturing, which had almost four times more vacancies (nearly 5,800), and in hospitality, which had 1,500, up 25%.

Only electricity supply and education saw lower demand for new workers in quarter two year on year.

The bulk of vacancies available in April-to-June were advertised by employers with ten or more employees - around 12,700 or almost 62% of all vacancies in the country.

Vacancy rate in quarter two rose by 0.5 of a percentage point to a record 2.6% compared with quarter one and by 1.2 percentage point annually.

The quarter two growth was impacted by a considerable rise in vacancies for a second quarter in the year.

Since SURS started carrying out this survey in 2008, the 2.6% vacancy rate was achieved twice before, in the third quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.

As for occupied posts, deseasoned figures show they increased 6,300 to around 777,200 from quarter one.

In annual comparison, occupied posts rose by almost 14,100 or 1.8%, which was most notable in the construction industry and in health and social care.

In hospitality, the number of occupied posts increased by 2.8% compared with the first quarter, which is less than in the same period last year.

STA, 17 May 2021 - The average gross pay in March was EUR 2,010, up 3.3% nominally and 3% in real terms compared to February. The average net pay for March was EUR 1,291, which was 3% higher nominally and 2.7% higher in real terms, the Statistics Office said on Monday. Pay was also higher on an annual basis.

The average gross pay in March this year was 14.3% higher than in March 2020, when the country was gripped by the Covid-19 epidemic. The average net pay rose by 12.6% year-on-year.

Average gross pay for March was also higher on a monthly basis in both the public and private sectors, by 4.1% and 2.8%, respectively.

Compared to February, the average gross pay for March increased the most in financial and insurance services, by 32%, mainly due to higher exceptional payments.

The financial and insurance services also recorded the highest average gross pay in March, totalling EUR 3,345.

By statistical region, gross wages in March were higher across the country, with the biggest increase recorded in the region of Pomurje (6.7%) and the smallest in Central Slovenia (2.1%).

Figure: SURS

Related: Is Slovenia a Rich or Poor Country?

STA, 13 May 2021 - There were some 16,100 job vacancies available in Slovenia in the first quarter of the year, up around 3,500 from the last quarter of 2020. Employers were looking for new workers in 13 out of a total of 18 sectors monitored, but the strongest demand was in manufacturing and retail, the Statistics Office (SURS) said on Thursday.

Employers in manufacturing had some 1,200 vacancies more available in January-March than in October-December, while the figure for retail was 1,100.

Demand for new workers meanwhile dropped in healthcare, where there were almost 180 fewer vacancies available, and in water supply (-100).

However, the number of vacancies in the first quarter was still by 920 lower compared to the first quarter last year, when the Covid pandemic hit in mid-March.

"No recovery was detected in hospitality, where the drop was the sharpest, that of 41% in available jobs," SURS sad.

The bulk of vacancies available in January-March were advertised by employers with ten or more employees - around 10,200 or almost 64% of all vacancies in the country.

The number of occupied posts in the first three months remained at around 771,000 over the last three months last year.

The drop in the number of occupied posts at the annual level was sharpest in hospitality, by 18%, or around 5,700.

In comparison, the drop in manufacturing was around 4,900, or 2.5%.

STA, 8 March 2021 - Women in the labour market are frequently faced with precarious work forms, discrimination, harassment, sexism and do a lot of unpaid work, trade unions have warned on International Women's Day.

Young people in particular, especially women, are more subjected to precarious work forms. About 80% of females aged between 15 and 25 have fixed-term employment contracts, while for men the share is under 60%, said Mladi Plus, a union representing young workers.

Poverty has become more widespread among young women, mainly due to high unemployment rate in this group and precarious work forms. The unemployment rate among women aged between 25 and 34 is about three percentage points higher than among men.

"Employers often expect them to go on maternity leave, to be on sick leave more often (to provide for children or elderly) and to put family life before their job," the unions said, noting that employers saw this as risky and potentially costly, so they did not hire women as much.

The access to services in elderly care is increasingly restricted rather than being expanded, which means more unpaid work for women because of socially determined roles, and more absence from the labour market.

The state is trying to tackle the issue of higher unemployment of women with tertiary education with subsidies for self-employed women, which seemingly reduced the unemployment rate but does not solve the problem, the union said.

It also pointed to allegations of discrimination and bullying at work. Women looking for a job are often discriminated against and employers sometimes demand that they sign a statement that they will not get pregnant in a certain period.

Women are also still discriminated against when it comes to pay - with the pay gap increasing from 3.3% in 2011 to 9.3% in 2018. In 2016, women in the EU on average received 16.2% lower pay than men.

Mladi Plus also pointed to some unacceptable demands by employers, for example in the hospitality sector, where women are sometimes required to wear short skirts and low-cut tops, and to sexual harassment in institutions that should provide for education and equal opportunities and rights for all.

The union also warned of poverty among older women, who receive lower pension than man because the had also received lower pay.

The Covid-19 epidemic has also hit women hard. Most women who have been absent from work during the epidemic have been on furlough and more women than men have lost their jobs since the start of the epidemic, official statistics shows.

"The measures adopted by governments harm women by deepening the differences between the sexes in terms of unemployment, household choirs and financial security," the union said.

Moreover, jobs that are most exposed to infections are dominated by women in the sectors such as healthcare, social protection, education.

The ZSSS trade union confederation has joined a campaign by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) urging countries on 8 March to ratify the convention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) against violence and harassment at work.

The union said that the epidemic had made the situation worse for women at work as well as at home, as domestic violence was also on the rise.

The ZSSS said it had called on the Labour Ministry and the government on several occasions to ratify the convention as soon as possible. This would place Slovenia among the first European countries to ratify it or start the ratification process, with Italy being the first one.

"It is the first international labour standard dealing with violence and harassment at work and envisaging efficient measures against it and victim protection," the ZSSS said.

The 8 March Institute, an NGO also warned of gender inequality on the labour market today, noting that the Covid-19 epidemic had aggravated inequalities as women took on the burden of home schooling and household chores, a survey conducted by the NGO has shown.

Particularly vulnerable are single mothers, said the coordinator of the survey, Mark J Užmah.

Tina Tomšič from the NGO said the most vulnerable group in Slovenia were single retired women, while self-employed women were also at risk because they could not go on maternity leave or take sick leave, which meant they did not enjoy labour rights.

A lot more data on women working in Slovenia is here

STA, 15 February 2021 - The average monthly wage in Slovenia in 2020 reached EUR 1,856.20 gross, which is 5.8% more than in 2019 nominally and 5.9% higher in real terms. The average net wage was EUR 1,208.65 or 6.6% and 6.7% higher nominally and in real terms, respectively, the Statistics Office (SURS) reported on Monday.

The average gross wage in 2020 was higher both in the private sector (+4.4%) and the public sector (+7.8%) compared to the year before.

In the general government sector, it was up by 9.9%, including as a result of the payout of extraordinary bonuses related to the Covid-19 epidemic, SURS noted.

Activity-wise, it was up the most in healthcare and social security (+17.7%), while it was down the most in the hospitality industry (-3.8%).

The average gross wage was the highest in Central Slovenia, standing at EUR 2,057.92 or 10.9% above the Slovenian average. It was, meanwhile, the lowest in the Primorska-Notranjska statistical region (EUR 1,632.87).

In December 2020, the average gross wage was EUR 2,021.21 or 0.3% higher nominally and almost level in real terms compared to the month before.

The average net wage in the same month was EUR 1,314.62 or 1% higher nominally and 0.7% higher in real terms over November 2020.

In the private sector, the average gross wage for last December was 2.9% lower than that in November, mostly on account of end-year bonuses, SURS added.

In the public sector, this difference was 3.8% and in the institutional sector the average gross wage was 4.5% higher than in November.

The average monthly gross wage in December was the highest in the electricity, gas and steam supply, standing at EUR 2,947.41. It was the lowest in the hospitality industry, at EUR 1,203.63.

STA, 1 January 2020 - The statutory minimum wage is scheduled to increase in January under legislation passed in 2018. A new formula tying the minimum wage to cost of living will be used. Preliminary calculations show it will stand at roughly EUR 736 net.

Under the law, the minimum wage must be at least 20% and up to 40% higher than the minimum cost of living. The last time the minimum cost of living was calculated, in 2017, it stood at EUR 613 for a single person.

The Ministry of Labour, the Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities has said the minimum wage will be set by the minister following consultations with social partner. It will be published in the Official Gazette on 31 January at the latest.

Slovenia introduced the minimum wage 25 years ago and it has been significantly increased several times since, most recently in 2019, when it stood at EUR 887 gross, and in 2020, when it rose to EUR 941 gross.

Employers have been warning for a while that some companies will not be able to absorb the higher wage and have asked the government to defer the scheduled increase. Trade unions have been fiercely opposed to the idea.

As a compromise, the government recently proposed that the new formula be postponed until April, whereby the state would pay for the increase through September.

Both employers and trade unions opposed this and the proposal, which was due to be included in the latest economic stimulus law, was shelved.

Sonja Šmuc, the director general of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), said earlier this week that businesses would continue to push for a suspension of the increase and expected the government to cover the increase despite its compromise solution having been rejected.

She said that if the minimum wage did increase, "the price will be very high, in particular in the form of an increased number of jobless and the loss of quite a few companies in certain industries".

Šmuc has information some companies are preparing to relocate abroad because of the higher minimum wage. "We'll insist that a solution be found before January pay is due."

STA, 15 December 2020 - Some 84,700 unemployed persons were registered with Slovenia's Employment Service on average in the first eleven months of 2020, up 14.5% compared to the same period in 2019. Currently, 84,732 unemployed persons are recorded, however the figure is expected to rise to some 88,000 at the end of the year, Employment Service head Mitja Bobnar said.

During the January-November period, about 90,500 persons registered as unemployed, a 35% increase on the same period in 2019, Bobnar noted at today' briefing.

The year-on-year rise was most significant in the case of furloughed workers or people whose companies had gone bust. Among those who lost their jobs was also a larger number of persons who had seen their fixed-term contracts expire.

At the end of November, the unemployed register numbered more than 84,100, up by 16% year-on-year.

Employers registered 107,000 vacancies until the end of November, down by 27% on the first eleven months in 2019.

In the past two months, the number of vacancies dropped by some 20%, most notably in culture, recreational activities, traffic, warehouse services, retail and the hospitality sector, Bobnar said.

"Certain activities have been hiring on a significantly larger scale," he said, highlighting manufacturing, construction, transportation services and social care activities as such areas.

Compared with other European countries, Slovenia's unemployment rate is somewhere in between, he noted.

Since the start of stimulus measures, the Employment Service has received more than 160,000 applications for the furlough or short-time work schemes for over 600,000 workers. "The figure is truly high, however we manage to process the applications in 14 days on average," Bobnar said.

All furlough scheme applications stemming from the fourth and fifth stimulus packages have been processed, he said, adding that short-time work scheme applications had been processed in timely fashion.

A total of EUR 335 million was disbursed to some 36,200 service providers for 236,000 workers.

STA, 3 December 2020 - The government adopted on Thursday amendments to the act on employment, self-employment and work of foreigners which transpose a 2016 EU directive.

The directive sets down the conditions of entry and residence of third-country citizens for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and au pairing.

Slovenia wishes to pursue the objective to make the EU more attractive to third-country citizens who wish to do research, and to simplify the entry requirements for those coming to Slovenia to study, the Government Communications Office said on Thursday.