Context and objectives

The aim of this project is to better understand the profile of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs) in Slovenia and to improve prevention and activation strategies. Unlike in the majority of EU countries, the 2017 NEET rate had not yet fallen below the share observed during 2010 – a particularly difficult year during the economic crisis.

Within this context, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provided technical support to the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of Slovenia, with financial support from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) (contract SRSS/S2019/036). The project is part of a larger project on labour market integration of long-term unemployed people and NEETs. See more information about the project on long-term unemployed people.

The Slovenian authorities lacked solid data on the size and composition of NEETs and the reasons behind their NEET status. Addressing this knowledge gap was a first step towards tackling the underlying problems. The OECD therefore prepared a comprehensive overview on the profile of NEETs in Slovenia to get a better understanding of the characteristics of NEETs, NEET risk factors and NEET dynamics, and compared the Slovenian outcomes with those in other EU/OECD countries. The OECD built its analysis on survey data as well as merged administrative data from different sources. In a second step, the OECD assessed the policy and institutional framework for NEET prevention and activation in Slovenia. In particular, the OECD analysed the role of education, employment and social policies and the collaboration between relevant stakeholders in the transition from school to work in Slovenia from an international perspective. Finally, the OECD proposed tailored recommendations and developed a reform action plan to improve NEET prevention and activation, in close collaboration with the Slovenian authorities.

Outputs and activities

• Analysis of labour force surveys and household surveys from EU and OECD countries
• Merging and analysis of different administrative data sources, including the population registry, the socio-economic database, various education databases, the income database and several databases from the Employment Service of Slovenia
• Report on the profile of NEETs in Slovenia, including personal characteristics of NEETs and other young people, NEET risk factors and NEET dynamics

• Consultations with relevant Ministries, institutions and other stakeholders to discuss policy and service design challenges regarding NEETs
• Assessment of education, social and employment policies
• Report on NEET prevention and NEET activation with tailored recommendations to improve the system

Relevance for other countries

The merging of different administrative databases allows for more detailed insights in the characteristics of NEETs and their use of public services and benefits. For instance, the merged dataset provided detailed information on registered and unregistered NEETs and the kind of activation services they received (or not) over the years, as well as the reasons behind their inactivity/unemployment. A similar exercise for other countries could help policymakers to better understand the challenges that young people face in their school-to-work transition and how public services can improve their support for this group.

Related work

- OECD work on Youth employment and social policies, including Investing in Youth country reviews

- Policy note on Hidden NEETs

- Labour market integration of long-term unemployed in Slovenia