LJUBLJANA, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The number of jobless people in Slovenia jumped by 4.1 percent in January from the month before after a large number of short-term job contracts expired at the end of 2016, the National Employment Service said on Friday.
It said the number of unemployed people reached 103,736, though this was still 12.2 percent less than in January 2016 after falling to a seven-year-low in September. ID:nL5N1CB2VR
The unemployment rate will be revealed by the statistics office in March. In November, the latest figure available, the rate was 10.4 percent with 96,843 jobless people.
The government expects the jobless rate to fall moderately this year and the next and reach 9.5 percent in 2018, particularly since international firms like French car maker Renault RENA.PA , Japanese electrical equipment producer Yaskawa 6506.T and Canadian car parts maker Magna International MG.TO recently said they would create a number of new jobs in Slovenia this year and next.
Slovenia narrowly avoided an international bailout for its banks in 2013. It returned to growth in 2014 and the government expects the economy to expand by 2.9 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2018, buoyed by exports and domestic spending.