Slovenia
Slovenia’s unemployment insurance and the public employment service play an important role for people with health problems or disabilities, in various ways. First, people who are unemployed do not qualify for sickness insurance and remain in the unemployment insurance. Second, people with partial disability benefits must register with the employment service. Third, people with insufficient employment records do not qualify for insurance benefits and have to rely on social assistance and the employment service. This setup implies that many of those with most severe health issues and labour market barriers are under the responsibility of the unemployment system. Accordingly, the public employment service has strong services in place, including employment rehabilitation and systematic assessment of health barriers to employment. However, systematic support is provided only after many years although new analysis presented in this report shows that an early provision of active labour market programmes is essential for a successful transition to employment. Problems can only be solved by co‑ordinated sickness, disability and unemployment insurance reform.
This chapter surveys the various public activities that influence the Slovenian innovation system. It traces the rather steady and incremental development of policy over time. It describes the governance structure in some detail: the budgeting, advisory and steering functions as well as the main actors at ministerial and agency level. Analysis of their interactions leads to a number of policy conclusions and recommendations for improved governance mechanisms. Next the chapter considers the large array of funding programmes at both the national and European levels. The chapter concludes by drawing together main findings of this review regarding major functions an innovation system has to perform. It points at scope to strengthen the framework conditions for innovation, maximise the benefits from the internationalisation of R&D and strengthen the human resource base for science and innovation. Further it addresses possible improvements of the governance of the innovation system and measures to foster innovation in the business sector, to achieve critical mass, excellence and relevance of public research and to strengthen the links in the innovation system.
This chapter focuses on how the Slovenia government rationalises its existing stock of regulations, including how it undertakes reforms to improve regulation in specific areas or sectors to, for example, reduce administrative burdens and other compliance costs associated with regulation or evaluate the overall effectiveness of a regulation.
Slovenia enjoyed strong economic growth before the crisis but faced one of the most pronounced recessions in the OECD in 2009. The crisis has revealed important weaknesses in Slovenia’s pre-crisis economic performance, which was excessively dependent on credit and construction activity. To rebalance the economy, the authorities need to take decisive policy actions. On the macroeconomic side, they should ensure a durable reduction in the structural deficit to avoid any loss of investor confidence, and necessary measures should be taken to support the banking sector to alleviate the risks of credit rationing. On the structural side, the challenge is to restore competitiveness and raise potential growth so as to continue sustained convergence towards more advanced OECD economies. Despite a significant proposed pension reform, further comprehensive steps are of outmost necessity to improve long-term fiscal sustainability and boost the labour supply of older workers. Measures to improve the functioning of the labour market, notably to raise labour demand for older and less-qualified workers, are also needed. Particular attention should be paid to labour costs at the minimum wage level. To get closer to the technology frontier, Slovenia should improve its innovation framework (Chapter 1) and education policies (Chapter 2). Foreign direct investment and the governance of state-owned enterprises both need to be strengthened to stimulate economic dynamism and raise productivity (Chapter 3).
The COVID-19 crisis has had a profound impact on SME access to finance. In particular, the sudden drop in revenues created acute liquidity shortages, threatening the survival of many viable businesses. The report documents an increase in demand for bank lending in the first half of 2020, and a steady supply of credit thanks to government interventions. On the other hand, other sources of finance declined, in particular early-stage equity.
This paper, a special edition of Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs, focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on SME access to finance, along with government policy responses. It reveals that the pre-crisis financing environment was broadly favourable for SMEs and entrepreneurs, who benefited from low interest rates, loose credit standards and an increasingly diverse offer of financing instruments.
It documents the unprecedented scope and scale of the policy responses undertaken by governments world-wide, and details their key characteristics, and outlines the principal issues and policy challenges for the next phases of the pandemic, such as the over-indebtedness of SMEs and the need to continue to foster a diverse range of financing instruments for SMEs.