ABSTRACT

The social protection system proved to be remarkably "accommodating" in adapting to the large increase in beneficiaries, without any sizeable decrease in social protection rights. The socioeconomic structure and the income structure of Slovenian households experienced large changes in the early transition years. The structure of income sources differs markedly across income deciles: for poor households, the main income sources are pensions, family benefits and social transfers. Milanovic has shown that income inequality increased in virtually all European countries during the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. The study of wage inequality and its causes is important, in order to ascertain to what extent trends in income inequality have been driven by trends in wage inequality. The risk of income poverty increased for the unemployed. The risk of poverty for children is about average: this is in stark contrast to other Central and Eastern European countries that were undergoing transition.