The tax wedge in Slovenia: international comparison and policy recommendations

When taxes on labor are introduced, a “tax wedge” appears between the labor costs paid by the employer (gross wage) and the net wage received by an employee. At a certain level of wage, a higher tax wedge increases unemployment and decreases employment, all other things being equal. The paper tackles three main questions: the characteristics of the tax wedge, unemployment and employment rates in OECD countries in the recent past, tax wedge policy in the EU15 and the new EU members and the tax system and its effects on the unemployment and employment rates in Slovenia. We found that the OECD countries can be classified into two groups of countries if the tax wedge, the unemployment rate and the employment rate are taken into consideration. The first group is the high tax wedge, high unemployment rate and low employment rate group of countries, whereas the other group has the opposite characteristics. European member states (old and new) have on average a higher tax burden on labor than the OECD average, consequently suffering from higher unemployment rates. Slovenia has an unreasonably high tax wedge; in the EU only Belgium and Germany have a higher tax burden. According to previous and our empirical findings we suggest that Slovenia could benefit from a reduction in the tax wedge.economic policy, tax wedge, Slovenia, EU, OECD.

Live longer, work longer : making it happen in the labor market

The objective of the paper is to summarize labor market implications of population aging and to discuss policy options to increase the employment of old workers. The paper argues that population aging and ensuing shrinking of the workforce will create a significant drag on the economies of developed, transition, and even some developing countries. Thus working longer is an imperative: unless countered by productivity increases, working longer, or both, population aging and ensuing shrinking of labor force will reduce economic growth and may jeopardize the economic well-being of some of the elderly. However, extending working lives has proven difficult, both because workers do not want to work longer and because employers are lukewarm about employment old workers. Among measures to motivate workers to work longer, the paper proposes providing retirement incentives and attractive, flexible working arrangements; and to stimulate employers to hire old workers, it argues for removing obstacles imposed by restrictive labor market institutions, for increasing human capital of workers via life-long learning, and for addressing age discrimination. Chances for extending working lives will also increase with improving health of old workers. The organization of the paper is as follows. Section 1 discusses the implications of population aging for economic growth. Section 2 examines factors that stand in the way of longer working lives - why workers opt for early exit from the labor market, and why employers are often lukewarm about employing old workers. In the policy part of the paper, Section 3 proposes possible measures to attract workers to work longer, and Section 4 describes how to remove institutional obstacles and introduce incentives that would make old workers more appealing to employers.Labor Markets,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,,Labor Policies,Work&Working Conditions

Does work pay in Slovenia?

Income transfers may generate work disincentives: if certain income payments are stopped when individuals (re)enter employment, this creates disincentives for taking employment – so called “unemployment trap”. To make work pay, several countries have introduced policies – financial incentives – which enhance employment opportunities for marginal groups in the labor market. Such policies increase in-work incomes and so improve work incentives for those receiving only out-of-work incomes. This paper tries to shed light on two questions, first being how does “making work pay” work in Slovenia, compared OECD countries, and the second, should Slovenia introduce earnings supplements or other in-work arrangements in tackling possible unemployment trap. According to international comparison Slovenia does not “step-out”, when we look at net replacement rates. Slovenia, however, has not introduced a single active labor programs that would stimulate directly and financially unemployed to join (official) employment, even though a lower paid job. In the paper we suggest the implementation of some kind of in-work arrangement at least for those, who are potentially less stimulated to reemploy.economic policy, financial incentives to work, Slovenia, EU, OECD.

Non-performance of the Severance Pay Program in Slovenia

Combining information from the Firm Survey of Labor Costs with the information about claims filed with the Guarantee Fund by workers whose employers defaulted on their severance pay obligations, the paper analyzes the so-called non-performance problem of severance pay – the fact that coverage, and thus legal entitlement, does not guarantee the actual receipt of the benefit – as experienced in Slovenia in 2000. The findings are threefold: (i) one-third of total obligations incurred by firms failed to be honored and only a small portion of defaulted severance pay claims was reimbursed by the Guarantee Fund; (ii) while both men and women seem to be equally affected, workers older than 40 were disproportionally represented among those whose severance pay claims failed to be honored; and, (iii) among firms that incurred severance pay liabilities, larger and more productive firms were more likely to observe their fiduciary obligations and pay them out. These findings corroborate the weaknesses of severance pay as an income protection program, pointing to the large scale of the non-performance problem and the inequities created by it.severance pay; severance pay non-performance; Guarantee Fund; Slovenia

Empirical Analysis of the Severance Pay Non-Performance in Slovenia

Combining information from the Firm Survey of Labor Costs with the information about claims filed with the Guarantee Fund by workers whose employers defaulted on their severance pay obligations, the paper analyzes the so-called non-performance problem of severance pay – the fact that coverage, and thus legal entitlement, does not guarantee the actual receipt of the benefit – as experienced in Slovenia in 2000. The findings are threefold: (i) one-third of total obligations incurred by firms failed to be honored and only a small portion of defaulted severance pay claims was reimbursed by the Guarantee Fund; (ii) while both men and women seem to be equally affected, workers older than 40 were disproportionally represented among those whose severance pay claims failed to be honored; and, (iii) among firms that incurred severance pay liabilities, larger and more productive firms were more likely to observe their fiduciary obligations and pay them out. These findings corroborate the weaknesses of severance pay as an income protection program, pointing to the large scale of the non-performance problem and the inequities created by it.severance pay, severance pay non-performance, Guarantee Fund, Slovenia

Non-performance of the severance pay program in Slovenia

Combining information from the firm survey of labor costs with the information about claims filed with the Guarantee Fund by workers whose employers defaulted on their severance pay obligations, the paper analyzes the so-called non-performance problem of severance pay - the fact that coverage, and thus legal entitlement, does not guarantee the actual receipt of the benefit - as experienced in Slovenia in 2000. The findings are threefold: (i) one-third of total obligations incurred by firms failed to be honored and only a small portion of defaulted severance pay claims was reimbursed by the Guarantee Fund; (ii) while both men and women seem to be equally affected, workers older than 40 were disproportion ally represented among those whose severance pay claims failed to be honored; and (iii) among firms that incurred severance pay liabilities, larger and more productive firms were more likely to observe their fiduciary obligations and pay them out. These findings corroborate the weaknesses of severance pay as an income protection program, pointing to the large scale of the non-performance problem and the inequities created by it.Labor Policies,,Labor Markets,Wages, Compensation&Benefits,Social Protections&Assistance

May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

On the efficiency of Slovenian government debt market: empirical analysis with Nelson-Siegel model

Government securities market is traditionally one of the most efficient segments of financial market with a broader meaning for the national economy. It is used by a variety of market participants including for conducting monetary policy. In order to play this crucial role, the government securities market needs to be efficient. The main idea of the current article is to find whether secondary market for government securities in Slovenia is efficient. We found that introduction of secondary market led to an efficient market. However, some changes in government policy announced in mid-2006 caused fall in its efficiency.government policy; government securities; market efficiency; Nelson-Siegel; Slovenia; sustainable economy; debt market; monetary policy.

Ambulatory blood pressure in normotensive and hypertensive subjects: Results from an international database

Objective: To delineate more precisely an operational threshold for making clinical decisions based on ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) measurement by studying the ABP in subjects who were diagnosed as either normotensive or hypertensive by conventional blood pressure (CBP) measurement. Subjects: Twenty-four research groups recruited 7069 subjects. Of these, 4577 were normotensive (CBP 160 mmHg) and 1310 had diastolic hypertension (diastolic CBP >95 mmHg). Combined systolic and diastolic hypertension was present in 861 subjects. Hypertension had been diagnosed from the mean of two to nine (median two) CBP measurements obtained at one to three (median two) visits. Results: The 95th centiles of the ABP distributions in the normotensive subjects were (systolic and diastolic, respectively) 133 and 82 mmHg for 24-h ABP, 140 and 88 mmHg for daytime ABP and 125 and 76 mmHg for night-time ABP, respectively. Of the subjects with systolic hypertension, 24% had 24-h systolic ABP <133 mmHg. Similarly, 30% of those with diastolic hypertension had 24-h diastolic ABP <82 mmHg. The probability that hypertensive subjects had 24-h ABP below these thresholds tended to increase with age and was two- to fourfold greater if the CBP of the subject had been measured at only one visit and if fewer than three CBP measurements had been averaged for establishing the diagnosis of hypertension. By contrast, for each 10-mmHg increment in systolic CBP, this probability decreased by 54% for 24-h systolic ABP and by 26% for 24-h diastolic ABP, and for each 5-mmHg increment in diastolic CBP it decreased by 6 and 9%, respectively. In comparison with 24-h ABP, the overlap in the daytime and night-time ABP between normotensive and hypertensive subjects was of similar magnitude and was influenced by the same factors. Conclusions: The ABP distributions of the normotensive subjects included in the present international database were not materially different from those in previous reports in the literature. One-fifth to more than one-third of hypertensive subjects had an ABP which was below the 95th centile of the ABP of normotensive subjects, but this proportion decreased if the hypertensive subjects had shown a higher CBP upon repeated measurement. The prognostic implications of elevated CBP in the presence of normal ABP remain to be determined. © Current Science Ltd.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Short report: Ambulatory blood pressure in normotensive compared with hypertensive subjects

Objective: To delineate more precisely an operational threshold for making clinical decisions based on ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) measurement by studying the ABP in subjects who were diagnosed as either normotensive or hypertensive by conventional blood pressure (CBP) measurement. Subjects: Twenty-four research groups recruited 7069 subjects. Of these, 4577 were normotensive (CBP ≤140/90 mmHg), 719 were borderline hypertensive (systolic CBP 141-159 mmHg or diastolic CBP 91-94 mmHg) and 1773 were definitely hypertensive. Of the subjects in the last of these categories, 1324 had systolic hypertension (systolic CBP ≥160 mmHg) and 1310 had diastolic hypertension (diastolic CBP ≥95 mmHg). Hypertension had been diagnosed from the mean of two to nine (median two) CBP measurements obtained at one to three (median two) visits. Results: The 95th centiles of the 24-h ABP distributions in the normotensive subjects were (systolic and diastolic, respectively) 133 and 82 mmHg. Of the subjects with systolic hypertension, 24% had 24-h systolic ABP ≤133 mmHg. Similarly, 30% of those with diastolic hypertension had 24-h diastolic ABP <82 mmHg. The probability that hypertensive subjects had 24-h ABP below these thresholds tended to increase with age and was two- to fourfold greater if the CBP of the subject had been measured at only one visit and if fewer than three CBP measurements had been averaged for establishing the diagnosis of hypertension. By contrast, for each 10-mmHg increment in systolic CBP, this probability decreased by 54% for 24-h systolic ABP and by 26% for 24-h diastolic ABP, and for each 5-mmHg increment in diastolic CBP it decreased by 6 and 9%, respectively. Conclusions: The ABP distributions of the normotensive subjects included in the present international database were not materially different from those in previous reports in the literature. One-fifth to more than one-third of hypertensive subjects had an ABP which was below the 95th centile of the ABP of normotensive subjects, but this proportion decreased if the hypertensive subjects had shown a higher CBP upon repeated measurement. The prognostic implications of elevated CBP in the presence of normal ABP remain to be determined. © Current Science Ltd.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe