Ljubljana - Slovenia's jobless total stood at 55,854 in May, down 3.8% from April and 25.7% from the year before. This is the lowest figure since 1990, the Employment Service said on Friday.

Just under 4,000 were registered as newly unemployed in May, down 5.5% compare to April, the majority because their fixed-term contracts expired.

There were also nearly 600 redundant workers, but this is still down 4% on the month before.

At the same time, more than 6,000 jobless persons were unregistered, two-thirds of whom got a job.

The decline in unemployment is coupled with huge demand for workers.

I the first five months of the year employers registered a combined 76,000 vacancies, up by almost 37% on the year before.

Demand is greatest for workers for simple jobs in manufacturing and construction.