1. ESF REACTION TO THE ECONOMIC
AND FINANCIAL CRISIS
CASE OF SLOVENIA –
Brussels,

2. REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA
Constitutional Charter on the Independence and Sovereignty of the Republic of Slovenia was proclaimed on 25. June 1991
The Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia was proclaimed on 23. December 1991
Member of EU
1 May 2004
Introduction of the EURO
1 January 2007
GDP per capita (2011) in EUR
17.361
Area (km2)
20.273
Population of RS (2009)
Capital
Ljubljana

3. SLOVENIA IS ONE CONVERGENCE REGION NUTS-2:
SLOVENIA IS ONE CONVERGENCE REGION NUTS-2

4. ACCORDNIG TO ESF STUDY GROUP 5: “MS with a growing economy before the
crisis, but which were hit by the crisis and
faced various difficulties in implementing
the ESF.”

5. CHANGE IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
Economic growth:
2007: 6,1%
2008: 3,5 %
2009: -7,8 %
2010: 1,2 %
2011: -0,2 %
Main reasons:
Decline of investments
Decline of export
Decline of household consumption
Main effects:
Reduced access to bank credits
Inability of companies to pay debts
Laying off
High public debt
New issues that have arisen from labor legislation (payments of foreign workers…)

6. LABOUR MARKET
Registered unemployment rate (from 7,3 to 12,1 %)

7. GREATEST ISSUES MANAGEMENT Crunch in absorption of ESF LABOUR MARKET
Inflow of unemployed to Employment service
79% of all new adds for employments were of the fixed-term type
The main reason for the loss of employment was the end of the contract of employment
Structure of unemployed has changed: higher number of first time job seekers, long term unemployed, older unemployed (age over 50)

8. ESF AS AN IMPORTANT TOOL IN MANAGING THE EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS

9. 1. SIMPLIFICATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS OF THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Advance payments
VAT as eligible cost
Use of flat-rates for ESF and ERDF
Introduction of shorter payment deadlines for investment transfers . payment made from the national budget to the municipalities day before the payment to the contractor falls due
Modified Guidelines on eligible costs which bring less administrative burden
New financial instruments (FI)
Simplifications in the process of preparation and approval of instruments
Elimination of double administrative controls (shorter deadline for payment to the beneficiaries) 9

10. 2. PROGRAMME CONTENT ADJUSTMENTS
Program as such wide enough
First instruments implemented in 2008 were continued from the previous programming period and were not adopted to new circumstances
In 2009 adoptions of the instruments regarding the new circumstances
Some fund shifting within the priorities

11. PRIORITY 1 Promoting entrepreneurship and adaptability
Objectives:
Enhancement of business R&D capacities and better cooperation among academic, research and economic spheres.
Promotion of HRD in enterprises with the aim of increasing employability and mobility of workers and strengthening competitiveness of the employers.
Establishment of a system of incentives via a systematic and comprehensive approach for matching the education system and the needs in the labor market so as to reduce structural imbalances in employment, improve qualification structure of HR and strengthen employability.
Creation of new employment opportunities by fostering entrepreneurship, flexible forms of employment and other innovative approaches that prevent entry into unemployment.
Activities
Experts and researchers for competitive enterprises
Training and education for competitiveness and employability
Scholarship schemes
Promotion of the development of new employment opportunities

12. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 1
Public call: “Knowledge makes the dreams come true”,
which aims to co-finance training and education to
employees to enhance employability by raising levels
of education, training and basic skills, priority those
target groups of employees, threatened with job loss
transformated into
Trainings for those who are
temporary unemployed

13. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 2 Program: Self employment: after training
and preparation of personal
business plan subsidies of 4.500
Euros for self-employment (2 yrs)

14. PRIORITY 2 Promotion of the employability of job-seekers and inactive
Objectives:
Encourage inactive persons for a successful entry into the labour market
Increase outflow of the unemployed into the labour market
Improve educational structure and qualification of the employment and inactive
Activities:
Strengthen informing, counselling, motivating, lifelong career orientation and
development of multi-media aids for an effective career counselling to unemployed and inactive
Programmes/projects encouraging the inactive to enter the labour market
Training and education of the unemployed to obtain the required knowledge and skills;
On-the-job training and other short forms of training
Stimulate employment in regions with low economic potential
Support to innovative measures and specific approaches in the area of active
labour market policies and international projects (for example connecting contents
of CIP, EQUAL and EIM), and the development of new forms of preventive
activities for moving into open unemployment)

15. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 3
Program: Promotion of employment for hard-to-place
clients: subsidy for 1 month training and employment
for 18 months (special attention was given to personal
career plan of the employed person)

16. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 4
Public call: “Absovent, aktiviraj in zaposli se”
Stimulations for the candidates
for graduation for training at employers, after
graduation subsidy for
employment of graduates

17. PRIORITY 3 Development of human resources and of life-long learning
Objectives
Improvement in the quality of the education system along the entire
vertical and of the training system including improvement in the
qualification structure of the education providers
Augmentation in the participation of individuals in the education and training
process thus ensuring greater employability and mobility
Activities
Improvement of quality and effectiveness of education and training
systems
Improvement of individual’s qualifications for work and life in a
knowledge-based society
Quality, competitiveness and responsiveness of higher-education

18. PRIORITY 4 Equal opportunities and reinforcing social inclusion
Objectives
Enable the access to employment and training for the vulnerable groups by
developing social and other innovative forms of entrepreneurship that create
new jobs and disseminate social and other public services.
Promote equal opportunities and social inclusion among the young, in particular
in the education and training system.
Enhance awareness of the public about equal opportunities as positive values
Acitivities
Equal opportunities in the labour market and reinforcing social inclusion
Increasing accessibility to and equal opportunities in the educational
system
Increased employability of vulnerable groups in the field of culture and
support to their social inclusion

19. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 5
Public call: Social
entrepreneurship

20. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 6
Project: Region Pokolpje

21. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 7
Project: Family-friendly company certificate

22. PRIORITY 5 Institutional and administrative capacity Objectives:
Ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector, including in healthcare and
justice, comparable to the level to other developed EU Member States and valid
standards.
Augment the level of quality and effectiveness of the labor market institutions in
providing employment and increasing employability of the service users.
Reinforce civil and social dialogue as well as competence of the non-governmental sector
and of social partners to provide services that are conducive to growth and job creation.
Activities
Efficient and effective public administration
Reform of the institutions in the labor market
Promotion of the development of NGOs, of civil and social dialogue
Healthcare in the information age

23. GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE 7
Project: More counsellors at the Employment Service
for better quality of service

24. OPEN ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES
CONTENT:
Sustainability of new jobs
Quality of jobs (evaluation)
Financial instruments
MANAGEMENT OF ESF:
Further promotion of simplified costs
Internal administrative burdens at public institutions (long and complicated procedures)
Possible shifting of funds within the priorities?

25. Sector for ESF, Managing Authority
Staša Mesec
Sector for ESF, Managing Authority