The registered unemployment rate in Slovenia stood at 10.8% in June. A similar rate was recorded in October 2010, the last time the number of registered unemployed was below 100,000, the statistical office reported on August 16.

The fall in Slovenia’s employment rate has gone hand in hand with the country’s economic recovery. Slovenia’s GDP grew 2.5% y/y in the first quarter of 2016, following real annual growth of 2.9% in 2015, thanks mainly to stronger domestic demand.

Slovenia’s central bank, Banka Slovenije, expects the unemployment rate to keep decelerating in 2016 and to reach 8.6% by the end of the year, then fall further to 8% in 2017 and 7.4% in 2018. Meanwhile, GDP is forecast to grow 1.9% in 2016 and to accelerate to 2.5% in 2017, Banka Slovenije said on June 7 in its latest macroeconomic outlook report.

In June, the Slovenian jobless rate decreased by 0.3pp against May when it went down by 0.4pp from April, following a declines in February and March.

The number of employed people in Slovenia in June increased by 0.3% m/m or to around 820,000. In May, the number increased to around 817,600 from 813,900 in April.

In sixth month of the year, compared to the previous month, the number of men in employment increased by 0.3% m/m to around 448,700. The number of women in employment also increased, by 0.2% m/m to around 371,300.

Compared to June 2015, the number of women in employment increased by 2.6% while the number of men in employment went up by 0.8%.

The average registered unemployment rate in the first half of 2016 amounted to 11.8%. In the first half of 2010, it stood at 10.6%. The last time the registered unemployment rate fell below this level was in September 2010, when it stood at 10.5%.