In August, a total of 106,071 people were registered with the Employment Service, which is 825 fewer than in July and 925 fewer than in August 2011.

In the third consecutive month of decline, the active population decreased by 0.3% in August to 808,420 people, which is down 1.8% year-on-year.

The figure was lower mostly on the account of a lower number of people working in retail (around 500 fewer) and in manufacturing (almost 450 fewer).

The first half of 2012 was marked by a declining trend in registered unemployment, which was broken off with a slight increase in July.

There were no major changes in regional unemployment rate data. The biggest drop (0.3 percentage points) was recorded in the Pomurje (NE) and Zasavje (east of Ljubljana) regions, where unemployment rate is the highest.