In July, the number of persons in employment remained broadly unchanged compared with previous months (seasonally adjusted) and was 0.4% lower year-on-year. The number of foreign citizens in employment increased by 1.9% year-on-year, while the number of Slovenian nationals in employment declined by 0.7%. The steepest year-on-year decreases in employment were recorded in administrative and support service activities (–3.9%, mainly due to a decline in employment agencies), manufacturing (–1.9%), and construction (–1.7%). Conversely, employment continued to rise in public service activities, most notably in human health and social work activities (+3.4%) and in education (+1.5%).

With high growth in July, construction activity continued to exhibit high volatility. After a decline in the first quarter and growth in the second, construction activity strengthened further in July, increasing by as much as 10% (seasonally adjusted). In the first seven months of the year, the total value of construction put in place was 1% higher than in the same period last year. It increased in specialised construction activities (by 9%) and in the construction of non-residential buildings (by 7%), remained unchanged in the construction of residential buildings, and declined by 7% in civil engineering. 
The sentiment indicator in construction, which had fallen in 2022 and 2023, has stabilised over the past year and a half and now exceeds its long-term average. Companies generally assess new orders as “normal”. The most significant constraint remains the shortage of skilled labour, while insufficient demand is cited by only around one tenth of companies. This indicates that the current challenges in construction are primarily driven by supply-side constraints rather than demand-side pressures.

Slovenian industrial producer prices increased slightly month-on-month in August (0.2%), while year-on-year growth eased further due to a higher base (to 0.9%). Differences in price growth between the domestic market (1.5%) and foreign markets (0.4%) widened this time, as a result of a stronger monthly increase in prices on the domestic market (0.5%). Producer prices on foreign markets were marginally lower month-on-month. Consumer goods continued to record the strongest year-on-year growth, which edged up to 3.6%. This reflected a 0.8 p.p. acceleration in the growth of durable goods prices (to 1.2%), while the growth of non-durable goods prices remained unchanged (4.2%). Within non-durable goods, price growth in the manufacture of food products strengthened again (4.9%). Price growth in the intermediate goods group remained moderate (0.4%) and slowed for the second consecutive month. Prices of energy (-4.9%) and capital goods (-0.4%) remained lower year-on-year amid subdued economic activity.