UPDATE 1 - Slovenia's Nov Jobless Rate Rises to 6.7% - Table

LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), January 16 (SeeNews) -  Slovenia's jobless rate rose to 6.7% in November from 6.6% in the previous month, the Slovenian Statistics Office said on Friday.

“The increase in the number of registered unemployed persons is probably one of the first consequences of the economic slowdown, which follows the world financial crisis with a slight delay,” the Statistics Office said in a statement.

The number of unemployed was 63,363 in November, up from 62,621 in October. The number of registered unemployed persons in the age group 30-50 years increased the most, the Statistics Office said.

Last month local news agency STA reported that Slovenia’s registered unemployment rate is projected to remain below 7.0% in 2008 but will rise to 8.0% or even 8.2% in 2009. The number of unemployed Slovenians is projected to rise to between 78,000 and 80,000 at the end of 2009, mainly due to the expiry of fixed-term labour contracts that are not being renewed, STA quoted the head of the country’s Employment Service Marija Poglajen as saying.

Analysts have said they expect the ranks of the unemployed to swell in the coming months as companies have started slashing jobs to weather the global crisis. The country’s steel, automobile and chemical industries have been hit most by dwindling demand from abroad, the Slovenian government’s Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, UMAR, has said.

Details follow: