Prime Minister Janša: We need an efficient public sector that serves citizens and a strong economy

SLOVENIA, September 10 - Citing data showing significant growth in public sector employment and the total wage bill, he emphasised that Slovenia needs an efficient public sector that provides high-quality services to citizens and a strong economy that creates the conditions for further development and greater prosperity.

He identified the growing number of public sector employees as one of the key development challenges. In 1991, the public sector employed 125,798 people, compared with 196,123 in 2025, representing an increase of 70,325, or 55.9%. Between 2015 and 2025 alone, the number of employees increased by 28,665 or 17.1%.

"For the country to develop properly, resources must be allocated logically and productively. People are our main development resource."

According to the Prime Minister, the inefficient allocation of part of the country's human resources is one of the reasons why, after rapidly approaching the European average by 2008, Slovenia failed to maintain its development momentum in the years that followed.

We have allocated part of our most important development resource inefficiently. "Currently, the Slovenian economy is short of 150,000 workers across a range of occupations," Prime Minister Janša stressed, adding that roughly the same number of work permits had been issued to foreign nationals and that, owing to family reunification, this was placing additional pressure on social spending. Thus, despite record-low unemployment, there has been exponential growth in social spending as a result.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the duplication of tasks as one of the consequences of the misallocation of resources, noting that many people and institutions perform the same or similar tasks. Such a system results not only in higher public spending but also in a constant increase in the number of regulations and administrative procedures.

"Many people and institutions are doing the same thing. A by-product of this is ever more bureaucracy and ever more regulation. We have ended up in an impenetrable bureaucratic swamp."

He noted that since independence, the number of national regulations in Slovenia has increased tenfold. He said that the volume of regulations has become so extensive that the system is difficult to navigate. More than 22,000 different regulations are currently in force at the national level in Slovenia. "We have too many regulations, and even legal departments can no longer keep track of them all. Having more people working somewhere does not necessarily mean the service provided to the public is better."

The Prime Minister stressed that discussing the size of the public sector does not mean diminishing its importance. The public sector must provide citizens with high-quality services, but it must also be efficient, especially at a time when the economy is facing a labour shortage. The performance of the public sector should therefore be measured not merely by the number of its employees, but primarily by the quality and accessibility of the services it provides to citizens.

There are considerable differences between individual parts of the public sector. Between 2000 and 2025, the number of people employed in education increased from 50,700 to 72,900, or by 43.8%, while in health and social care it increased from 32,800 to 49,100, or by 49.7%. In the civilian part of the state administration, the increase was 4.5%, while the number of people employed in the police decreased by 5.6%.

The Prime Minister emphasised that employment growth in certain areas had been justified. Following independence, Slovenia had to build certain systems from the ground up, including its national defence system; demographic changes also had to be taken into account in health and social care. Nevertheless, having more employees does not in itself guarantee better services or better results.

He highlighted the situation in primary education in particular. Between the 2002/03 and 2025/26 school years, the number of pupils rose from 176,258 to 189,132, an increase of 7%, while the number of teachers rose from 13,797 to 19,658, an increase of 42%. The pupil-to-teacher ratio consequently fell from 12.8 to 9.6.

"We have gone from 13 pupils per teacher to 9.6, yet every day we hear that there are not enough teachers." He also drew attention to the PISA 2025 results, stressing that higher employee numbers alone do not guarantee better outcomes. "When there were substantially fewer teachers and more pupils, the results were better than they are today," he said.

The growth of the public sector is also reflected in the gross wage bill. Between 2015 and 2025, it rose from approximately EUR 4 billion to EUR 7.72 billion, an increase of 92.8%. If current trends continue, it is projected to reach almost EUR 10 billion in 2028.

The Prime Minister therefore announced the restructuring and decentralisation of the public sector. According to the Prime Minister, the aim is not simply to reduce employee numbers, but to eliminate duplication of tasks, streamline the organisation of work and allocate human and financial resources more efficiently. Having fewer ministries also facilitates such changes, as the new structure of the state administration creates scope for restructuring and consolidating functions.

According to the Prime Minister, public sector measures must also be viewed within the broader context of the Government's development policy. He emphasised that the coalition agreement is development-oriented and that the measures it envisages will create the conditions for economic growth, increased investment and higher productivity.

In response to a journalist's question, the Prime Minister said that the Government's first 100 days in office had been a period of intense activity. Much of that time had been devoted to reviewing the situation in different areas, analysing public finances and preparing measures. Audits are still under way in some ministries, but according to the Prime Minister, the findings so far indicate that the actual situation in certain areas differs from the picture presented in the handover documents.

Regarding the forthcoming visit by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, he stressed that, with the revised budget adopted today, Slovenia would meet the target of spending 2% of GDP on defence for the first time, thereby honouring a commitment repeatedly made but never previously fulfilled. "For the first time, we have reached the target of spending 2% of GDP on defence. This has been promised repeatedly in Slovenia, but the necessary funding has now actually been secured – without any accounting tricks," he said.

He also pointed out that the problems facing Slovenia's defence system are not only financial but also structural and personnel-related. Unlike most of its neighbours, Slovenia has seen negative trends in this area in recent years. He was particularly critical of the implementation of defence investment in the previous period. According to the Prime Minister, only just over 40% of the funds earmarked for investment had been spent over the previous four years, while the planned allocations themselves were already substantially below the commitments made. "Of the 25 defence objectives set by the previous government, only two were achieved," he pointed out.

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