The purpose of this article is to estimate minimum wage effects on youth employment in the European Union (EU). The analysis employs a panel regression method with fixed effects and uses data for 18 EU member states with statutory minimum wage over the period 1996 to 2011. The analysis is restricted to teenage workers between 15 and 19 years of age and young workers between 20 and 24 years of age. The study finds a negative, statistically significant impact of minimum wage on youth employment, by which the disemployment effect appears to be stronger for teenage workers. The effect remains negative and statistically significant also when controlled for other labour market institutions. Taking into account empirical results, we can conclude that EU countries should be more cautious when setting up minimum wages for young workers, as disemployment effects may have been downplayed.

The article studies the relationship between ownership structure and performance of the Slovenian join stock companies, with special focus on the comparison of performance of state- and privately-owned joint stock companies and ownership concentration. The empirical analysis employs firm-level annual financial reports data and data on ownership structure of all Slovenian join stock companies for the 2005–2017 period. Using panel regression analyses we find that Slovenian state-owned joint stock companies are less profitable than their privately-owned counterparts. In contrast, we do not observe statistically significant relationship between ownership concentration and firm performance. The empirical findings point on the need of further actions in improvement of corporate governance of state-owned firms in Slovenia.

The paper examines the key determinants of European banks’ profitability by analyzing the return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), net interest margin (NIM), and the risk-adjusted measures of profitability, RAROAA and RAROAE, across 34 European countries during the period from 2013 to 2018—a time characterized by economic recovery and significant regulatory reforms, including the implementation of Basel III standards. Using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) approach and data of 3076 European banks, the research addresses the complex interplay between internal (bank-specific) factors and external factors, including macroeconomic and industry-specific factors. The results show that profitability is positively associated with a higher capital adequacy, liquidity risk, and income diversification, but not for risk-adjusted profitability ratios. Credit risk, management efficiency, and excessive size have a negative effect on all studied profitability measures. Macroeconomic conditions, in particular, GDP growth and inflation, also have a significant impact on profitability. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, regulators, and financial institutions aiming to enhance profitability while maintaining the stability of the European banking sector.

The paper examines the issue of labour taxation of Croatian worker in comparison to workers in OECD and EU Member States. By using hierarchical cluster analysis it studies the relations between tax wedge and labour market outcomes, whereas with panel regression analysis, performed on data for 39 countries during 2000–2008 period, estimates the impact of tax wedge on unemployment rate. The empirical estimates show that Croatia classifies among countries with higher unemployment and lower employment rate, characterized with higher tax wedge. Furthermore, the estimates of the regression analysis showed that the tax wedge at all three wage levels (i.e. 67 %, 100 % and 167 % of average wage) has a significant positive impact on unemployment rate. This signifies that Croatia, as other studied countries, should continue with reduction of tax wedge, as this would alleviate unemployment problems and stimulate job creation.

This article Analysis the effects of a large increase in Slovenia’s minimum wage in March 2010 on the wage distribution using an administrative matched employer–employee panel database. We find that the minimum wage hike increased the concentration of low-paid workers, creating a much more pronounced spike at the minimum, particularly in market services, and for the young, the least educated and those with the least work experience. Our analysis also shows that the March 2010 minimum wage increase also produced sizeable spillover effects. The spillover effects were higher among young and older workers, especially for wage levels near the new minimum wage. The results are based on a difference-in-differences approach comparing changes in wages during the control and treatment periods as experienced by workers in the wage group immediately above the level of the new minimum wage and workers in wage groups higher up in the wage distribution.

Background: Premature death, chronic disease, and productivity loss can be reduced with the help of programs that promote a healthy lifestyle. Workplace health promotion programs have been shown to be an efficient way of improving employee health. These can also benefit employers by improving retention, reducing worker turnover, and lowering healthcare costs. In Slovenia, a workplace health promotion program called “STAR-VITAL—Joint Measures for the Vitality of Older Workers” targeting small- and medium-sized enterprises has been ongoing since September 2017. We hypothesize that this workplace health promotion program will yield long-term health changes for the included employees and employers. Methods/Design: The manuscript presents a workplace health promotion program design that introduces some novel approaches and solutions to workplace health promotion program implementation. It also introduces a measurement of their effects that address the problem of low participation rates and the effectiveness of workplace health promotion programs, as follows: (1) the multifaceted and individualised approach to implementation, (2) customer relationship management (CRM) -based interaction management with program participants, and (3) impact evaluation based on employee health and labour market data observing both intermediate outcomes and the final outcomes based on national micro administrative data. Discussion: Although the novel approaches introduced with the STAR-VITAL program proved to be effective during the COVID-19 pandemic, they deserve the attention of scholars and practitioners. Further research is called for to further explore the potential of CRM in health promotion contexts, the effectiveness of multifaceted and individualised workplace health promotion program interventions, and micro administrative data-based impact evaluations. Conclusions: The STAR-VITAL program introduces several new approaches addressing the problem of low participation rates and the effectiveness of WHPPs. Further research is called for to discover and explore the potential of those novel approaches.