Since Slovenia declared coronavirus epidemic in mid-March, the number of people registered as unemployed rose by 13,622.

In April alone, the unemployed total rose by 13.9% over March, as 14,419 people were put out of work, 84% more than the month before and over 190% more than in the same month a year ago.

Apart from 6,209 who saw their fixed-term job contracts expire (more than double the month before), 5,616 were made redundant in April, a surge of 130% compared with March and almost 750% more year-on-year. Most of those were employed in the hospitality sector, followed by manufacturing and retail.

A further 481 of those who were added to the unemployment register were first-time job seekers (up 12% from March) and 164 lost jobs as their companies went bankrupt (up 61%).

Out of 3,626 who were removed from the unemployment register, 2,373 found a job or became self-employed. That is 61% fewer than in March and almost 60% fewer than in April 2019.

The most pronounced increase in unemployment was registered by the Kranj unit of the Employment Service, at more than 22% month-on-month and over 37% year-on-year.

Employers reported 4,336 vacancies in April, 41% fewer than in March and 60% fewer than the same month a year ago. Most job openings were for welders, builders and lorry drivers.

The last available data for the registered unemployment rate are for February, that is before the epidemic, standing at 7.9%, down 0.3 of percentage points from January and down half a point compared with February 2019.

Labour, Family and Social Affairs Minister Janez Cigler Kralj commented on the figures by saying they would have been much worse without the measures adopted by the government, as around 36,000 companies had applied for state support for more than 300,000 temporarily redundant workers.

"I think we've protected the labour market for now, but we also expect that some of the consequences of the crisis will arrive with a delay," he told the STA.