Slovenia acted swiftly to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite extensive fiscal measures, the economic impact is severe with a recession in 2020. The economic recovery should pick up, but a new outbreak could lead to higher long-term unemployment and lower growth. Looking further out, population ageing is leading to a higher number of pensioners as the labour force becomes smaller and older. These developments are creating two main long-term challenges. The first is to contain ageing-related spending increases in pensions and health and long-term care. Longer working lives is key to secure the pension system's fiscal sustainability, while better use of economic signals is needed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health and long-term care systems. The second challenge is to sustain growth with a changing workforce. In the near-term, underutilised labour resources, such as older and low-skilled workers, need to be mobilised. Thereafter, maintaining growth and income convergence requires faster productivity growth, pointing to a need for continuously improving labour allocation.

SPECIAL FEATURES: PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES OF AGEING; LABOUR MARKET INSTITUTIONS FOR AN AGEING LABOUR FORCE