Slovenia Ranks High in Terms of Employment in EU, Drobnic Says

Brussels, 3 March

Slovenia ranks fairly high in terms of employment among the EU member states, Labour Minister Janez Drobnic said in Brussels on Thursday. He particularly pointed to a low unemployment rate at between 6% and 7%, while some EU countries face unemployment rates close to 20%.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of EU employment and social affairs ministers, Drobnic commented on the 2004/2005 employment policy assessment according to which Slovenia has made only limited progress in implementing priorities.
The Joint Employment Report, which was released by the European Commission in January, was confirmed by the ministers on Thursday. The Commission observed in the report that Slovenia had made limited progress in increasing the employment rate among those over 55, as the 23.5% employment rate among this population segment places the country at the bottom among all EU member states.
Drobnic said that this was indeed an area that required attention. He said that Slovenia would consider the report's assessments and recommendations in drafting future guidelines.
The report showed that no EU member state had took into account all recommendations and met all priorities, which is why employment has often been called Europe's Achilles heel.
A reformed Lisbon Strategy, which was discussed by the ministers on Thursday, is expected to improve the situation. Minister Drobnic said that the reform of the Lisbon Strategy must keep bringing the economics, social and environmental policies together in a coherent policy that will be a guarantee for the development of the EU.
Drobnic said he also highlighted at the meeting that free access to the labour market for all EU citizens would help solve EU's problems with unemployment and the lack of qualified staff. He drew attention to the labour market restrictions that some member states imposed ahead of 2004 EU enlargement.

Slovenia Ranks High in Terms of Employment in EU, Drobnic Says

More articles from this issue:

Archive