Ljubljana - The unemployment in Slovenia stopped dropping in October for the first time since February, Mitja Bobnar, the head of the Employment Service, told the STA in an interview. However, the reason is not the expiry of subsidies for shorter working hours but first-time job seekers, he explained.

Bobnar expects the situation in the labour market to remain favourable.

In September, 66,122 persons were registered as unemployed in Slovenia, which is close to the record low number recorded in September 2008, when 59,303 were registered as jobless.

The trend could be attributed to the effects of government measures against the Covid-19 crisis, which "prevented any major lay-offs", Bobnar said.

"I believe that during this period, businesses have already managed to adapt to the new conditions, and economic activity has increased. In fact, service industries, which were badly affected by the epidemic, have also started to recover in the summer months, especially hospitality, tourism, cultural and recreational activities, and there has also been more employment in the retail sector," he said.

After the furlough scheme expired at the end of September, subsidies for shorter working hours were also abolished, but this did not affect the unemployment figures in the first half of October, according to Bobnar.

Although the number of newly registered unemployed in the first part of October was higher than in the entire September, this is mainly due to first-time job seekers registering at the Employment Service in this part of the year.

"By the end of October, the inflow of young people entering the labour market after school will continue and will have an impact on the rise in unemployment, which means unemployment is expected to be higher in October than it was in September," Bobnar noted.

Official data on registered unemployment in October will be released on Thursday.