How much bread could an average Slovenian salary buy in 1991?

Market economy has brought an increase in productivity and purchasing power

Nowadays a Slovenian worker on an average salary can buy 40 percent more bread than 25 years ago, when Slovenia became an independent country. Foto: MMC RTV SLO

Around the time when Slovenia declared independence, in 1991, its workers received an average of 43 euros worth of net salary, while in 2015 the average Slovenian net salary stood at 1,035 euros. At the moment 554 loaves of brown bread can be bought with this sum, which is a 40 percent increase from 1991.

During the transition into market economy in 1991, the average Slovenian net salary sufficed for purchasing 397 loaves of brown bread, writes the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS).

In early 1990s, the salaries in Slovenia were adjusted for the inflation rate on a monthly basis. In 1993, the adjustments were changed to occur quarterly, and the following years saw a continued decrease in the frequency of adjustment, until in 2006 the growth of gross salaries started lagging behind the growth of productivity, which contributed to a drop in inflation rate and improvement in the competitiveness of the Slovenian economy.

Austerity cuts, aimed at taming the public sector expenses, were introduced in 2009. In 2010 and 2011, the growth of salaries in the public sector stopped completely. After further budget cuts in 2012 and 2013, triggered by aggravated state of public finances, the average gross salary in the public sector decreased in nominal terms.

In recent years, higher economic growth has started to be reflected in higher salaries, but only to a limited extent since inflation is low while the unemployment rate remains relatively high.

G. K., MMC; translated by K. Z.