Ljubljana, 05 June (STA) - The number of those registered as unemployed contracted by 2.4% to 76,705 in May as it continues to approach pre-crisis levels after dropping below 80,000 for the first time in nine years in April. Year-on-year, the unemployment rolls declined by 12.5%, show figures released by the Employment Service on Tuesday.
Just over 5,000 persons registered as newly unemployed, down 3% on April, the majority due to the expiry of fixed-term job contracts.
On the other hand, almost 7.000 deregistered, 5,275 of whom got a job, implying that the recovery of the labour market continues apace.
Unemployment dropped across the country at monthly rates ranging from under one percent in Trbovlje area to 4.6% in Ptuj in the east.
At the annual level, Trbovlje saw a 20% drop in the jobless total, followed by Ptuj (15%) and Murska Sobota (14.3%) in the east.
The registered unemployment rate, which the Employment Service calculates with a two-month delay, stood at 8.6% in March, down 0.5 percentage points over February.