Minimum wage remains one of the toughest issues of social dialogue. Employers want the system to change so as to ensure greater competitive edge, while trade unions insist minimum wage is a basic human right and should only be increased.

Some business representatives even called for abolishing minimum wage in 2013. The calls however died down somewhat after trade unions responded with threats of massive protests.

The employers' side in the Economic and Social Council (ESS), Slovenia's main industrial relations forum, does not believe the minimum wage could be abolished at this point.

Igor Antauer of the Association of Employers in Trade Crafts and Small Business believes the minimum wage should be adapted to productivity and not to inflation.

Trade unions on the other hand insist that minimum wage should be adapted to inflation also in the future. Andreja Poje of ZSSS, Slovenia's biggest trade union confederation, believes that abolishing the adaptation of minimum wage to inflation would further reduce purchase power.

Drago Lombar of the KNSS trade union confederation said that trade unions would not give in to employers' demands.

Meanwhile, Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Minister Anja Kopač Mrak pointed out that minimum wage is not merely an economic category but also a social category and that the figure does not exceed the poverty threshold.

She believes that one-sided changes to the minimum wage could cause a severe conflict in society resulting in protests and strikes, which could be more expensive the than inflation adaptation.

Minimum wage was at EUR 783.66 gross and EUR 599.73 net in 2013. At the end of January the gross figure will increase by around EUR 10, increasing the total bill by between EUR 10m and EUR 15m.

The most recent change to minimum wage were adopted in early 2010, when gross minimum wage was increased by nearly 23%.