International youth day
Young people in Slovenia: more than half are enrolled in formal education
At the beginning of 2019 there were 309,000 young people in Slovenia (aged 15–29). More than half of them were in education; most of them were generally satisfied with their lives. Of those in employment, 46% had temporary employment and 54% permanent employment.
August 12 has been the day dedicated to young people all over the world since 1999. It is then that the United Nations declared this day International Youth Day, with the aim to discuss each year different issues affecting young people, highlighting their important role in society in general. This year, the leading topic is education.
More than half of the young in education
At the beginning of 2019, there were 309,000 young people in Slovenia, that is those aged 15–29. In the school year 2018/19, almost 2,000 pupils (15–29 years) attended elementary school, 73,000 were secondary school pupils, and just over 67,000 were students. Adding to this the another 17,000 young people who were enrolled in adult education in the school year 2017/18 indicates that more than half of all the Slovenian population aged 15–29 was enrolled in formal education.
The proportion of tertiary educated has been increasing
In 2018, there were 42.7% of residents of Slovenia in the age group 30–34 who had attained tertiary education. In 2005, their share was 24.6%, in 2010 34.8%, and since 2013 the share of tertiary educated residents has been always above 40%.
How many young people are not in education?
Most young people in Slovenia aged 18–24 are enrolled in education. In 2018, there were 4.2% of the young (aged 18–24) who were without education or had completed the elementary school at most, and who were not enrolled in education or training. A lower share of such persons in the EU-28 was recorded only in Croatia ( 3.3%); the EU-28 average was 10.6%.Among the young in Slovenia (aged 15–29), there were 5.0% who were neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET). According to this indicator, Slovenia ranked among the more successful countries, too; among the EU-28 countries it was sixth. The lowest share was recorded in Portugal (4.3%) and the highest in Bulgaria (14.6%). The EU-28 average was 7.8%.
The young are more familiar with the ICT
The young are much more familiar with a desktop, laptop, tablet, and the Internet than the elderly, although even among the elderly the share of those using a computer and/or the Internet has been increasing. According to 2017 data, 97% of the young (aged 16–24) used the computer during the 12 months before the survey, while the share in the entire population (aged 16–74) was slightly lower (79%).
It is very similar when we talk about learning or acquiring knowledge in the field of computers, software or applications. In 2018, 27% of respondents (aged 16–74) participated in different ways of learning about how to use computers, software, or applications (for example, free internet education, workplace education, payable education) over the 12 months prior to interviewing. Among the young (aged 16–24) this share was much higher: 44%. Among the EU-28 Member States, Slovenia ranked on the third position after Finland (73%) and Czechia (48%). The lowest share was recorded in Cyprus, 9%, while the EU-28 average was 22%.
161,000 among the young are employed persons
In 2018, there were 161,000 young employed persons (aged 15–29) in Slovenia. Most of them, 104,000, worked in enterprises or organisations, followed by those who worked via a student service (31,000). Most girls (24,000) worked in the occupational group service workers, and shop and market sales workers, while most of the boys (23,000) worked in the occupational group craft and related trades workers. Among young employees, 46% had temporary employment and 54% permanent employment. Among all employees, this ratio was quite different: 16% of all employees had temporary employment and 84% of them had permanent employment.
There were 16,000 young unemployed persons; the unemployment rate was 9.0% and was almost 4 percentage points higher than the total unemployment rate.
Young persons: lower wages, lower risk of poverty, higher life satisfaction
Average monthly gross earnings of the young (aged 15–29) amounted to almost EUR 1,300 in 2017 (provisional data); this was approximately three quarters of the average gross monthly salary of all employees in Slovenia. In 2018, the at-risk-of-poverty rate among all Slovenian population was 13.3%, while among the young it was lower (11.7%). The self-assesment of overall life satisfaction was the highest among the young: on a scale from 0 to 10, they assessed their life satisfaction with an average grade of 8.1; the average grade for all age groups was 7.3. The lower grades were given by persons aged 65 years or more (6.7).