Unemployment fell slightly in all regions except for Ljubljana (+0.7%) from February, according to a report published in the website of the Employment Service.

The number of freshly unemployed in March rose by 4.1% on February and by 16.1% year-on-year to 7,706. Nearly half (3,769) saw their fixed-term contracts expire, 1,079 were first job seekers and a further 1,793 were redundant workers.

Of the 9,142 who were checked out of the Employment Service registry, 6,164 found a job or got self-employed. This represents a 28.2% rise on February and a drop of 13.1% from March 2012.

Demand for workers was revived in March, but not at the rate typical of the month in past years. Employers registered 13,257 job vacancies, up 19.4% from February, but 18% down from March 2012.

The Employment Service registered an average 123,651 people out of employment in the first three months of the year, 8.5% more than in the same period in 2012.

In that period 30,896 were newly registered, up 23.1% on the first quarter of last year. Most of them (17,451) registered with the service after their fixed-term jobs ended.

During that time, 17,163 of the unemployed got employed, which is 1% less than in the first quarter of 2012. The number of vacancies dropped by 15.7% in that period.