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Activation of the unemployed has been an important topic among policymakers during the last decades. This paper reviews the current measures in Slovenia in the area of activation of unemployment benefit recipients and it compares its formal requirements related to activation against the international background. The paper focuses on five activation areas: adjustment of unemployment benefit eligibility, improving employment services, participation in active labour market policies, monitoring and sanctions. The review lists several recommendations Slovenia should apply to activate unemployment benefit recipients, including introducing more demanding job search requirements and increased monitoring of the compliance with these requirements, introducing compulsory participation in active labour market programs, checking the consistency and effectiveness of the current profiling system, and strengthening the ex-ante effect of sanctions.

This cross-sectional study was part of a comprehensive workplace health promotion program (WHPP) implemented in the work environment of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Western Slovenia, which included web-based educational campaigns aimed at promoting positive lifestyle changes among workers, including healthy eating habits and physical activity. As part of this program, which included campaigns in the areas of stress management, ergonomics, sleep hygiene, communication, work climate, and absenteeism, we developed and examined the engagement frequency in web-based content on healthy eating and physical activity for the companies included in the WHPP. This part of the project lasted from 2020 to 2022. Prior to the educational campaign, participants voluntarily completed a screening questionnaire. We analyzed the patterns of 370 workers in terms of their job classification (predominantly sedentary, predominantly standing, or predominantly physical), body mass index (BMI), gender, age, and selected indicators of diet and physical activity. Of the 88 companies participating in the WHPP, 26 took part in our web-based educational campaigns on nutrition and physical activity. Through an empirical analysis using descriptive and inferential statistics and a linear regression, we found that, on average, the engagement frequency (i.e., proportion of educational personal e-mails read) was highest among men with sedentary work, with older employees participating more actively than expected. Moreover, workers with good dietary habits and a favorable BMI proved to be the most avid readers of the web-based campaigns. Despite the overall low participant engagement frequency, it is clear that web-based educational campaigns are more appealing to workers with sedentary jobs and good dietary habits. This study provides valuable information on the potential effectiveness of appropriate workplace health promotion campaigns for SMEs and public health practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the productivity change of the commercial banks in the CEE countries over the post-crisis period 2013–2018. The productivity change is measured by the Malmquist Productivity Index and its sub-components, applying two approaches—the asset-oriented and profit-oriented intermediation approaches. The analysis uses data from a balanced panel of 181 commercial banks in 11 CEE countries. We find that commercial banks' productivity, measured with the asset-oriented intermediation approach, decreased in most of the CEE countries over 2013–2018, with a decline ranging, on average, from 1% to 6.9%, driven mainly by a decline in technical efficiency. Nevertheless, estimates using the profit-intermediation approach point to productivity growth in commercial banks in all CEE countries, ranging, on average, from 0.5% to 6.3%. The empirical findings imply the need for the CEE commercial banks to further digital transformation and cost rationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to assess the characteristics of labour taxation for five different groups of workers and labour market performance (in terms of employment and unemployment rate) in the eu and to examine whether tax wedge affects employment growth in the eu. The descriptive empirical estimates show that the level of labour taxation varies greatly across eu Member States, by which the tax wedge tends to be higher among NewMember States (excluding Cyprus andMalta). Furthermore, the panel regression analyses confirm statistically significant negative relationship between tax wedge and employment growth in the eu as a whole. Therefore, the empirical analysis suggests that the eu-27 should continue with the trend of reducing tax wedge, as this would have favourable effects on labour market performance, especially among New Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to examine the relationship between employment protection regulations and profits in the European economies. Using regression analysis on the panel of 18 European countries over the period 1998-2008, we study the effect of EPL index on net operating surplus of mixed income (a measure of profits). Our findings confirm a statistically significant negative relation between EPL index and profits at the level of economies, implying that more rigid employment legislation, and by that higher hiring and firing costs, hinder an efficient allocation of resources, resulting in lower efficiency of companies and in decline of profits. Although the effect is small, we believe that further flexibilization of employment protection regulation presents an important determinant not only for labor market performance and productivity, but also for companies' profits and therefore for the competitiveness of the European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Can activation programs be considered a 'magic wand' that triggers a change of incentives, with little or no costs, and produces real gains in terms of improved job-finding rates? The paper reviews the literature on the experience of OECD countries with such programs in five areas: strengthening job-search requirements, compulsory participation in active labor market programs, stricter monitoring, and imposing sanctions. Programs are judged in terms of duration of unemployment, probability of finding a job, and post-unemployment outcomes such as the level of wages and quality of jobs. Our review finds strong evidence that activation programs can increase the job-finding rates of individuals receiving unemployment or social assistance benefits. At the same time, it cautions that programs may have adverse side effects, ranging from increased exits into inactivity to lower quality of post-unemployment jobs, as well as negative indirect effects on the job prospects of non-participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present the characteristics of labour markets in the EU Member States, with special emphasis on Slovenia, especially in terms of design and implementation of flexicurity policies. The empirical analysis points on existence of considerable differences in flexibility and security in the labour market between EU Member States. The least successful at simultaneous implementation of flexibility and security at labour market are eastern and Baltic Member States, showing rigid labour markets at very low security of employees. Even more rigid labour market have Mediterranean States (including Slovenia), however they attain higher employment security. The most balanced flexicurity policies, thus ensuring high levels of flexibility and security, can be found among Scandinavian States. The latter, together with the United Kingdom and Ireland that show the highest labour market flexibility, are characterised with the highest GDP per capita among the EU Member states, high employment rates and low rates of long- term unemployment. The Slovenian labour market is very rigid with generous social security system. In terms of flexicurity it faces many challenges, among them low flexibility of contractual arrangements, low expenditures for active employment policies and suitability of the unemployment benefits system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]