The sharpest fall was observed in the number of young people enrolled in two-year short and three-year vocational upper secondary education. The number decreased by 56.7% to 12 586 in 2011/12. The number of young people enrolled in vocational-technical education that enables enrolment in tertiary education, and the number of young people enrolled in four-year and five-year technical upper secondary education also fell. There was also a decline in the number of graduates from these programmes.
The decline in the number of young people enrolled in two-year short and three-year vocational upper secondary education is also due to the low social status of these occupations. It is also connected with increased interest in enrolment in educational programmes (general and technical programmes) that enable direct transition to tertiary education. There was a sharp increase in participation in tertiary education after the year 2000 as a consequence of national education policy measures and the increase in the number of vacant places in tertiary education. However, during the crisis period between 2009 and 2011, the proportion of young people enrolled in two-year short and three-year vocational upper secondary education remained almost unchanged, while the proportion of young people enrolled in technical upper secondary education increased. In 2010 and 2011 the number of vacancies increased mostly for people with two-year short and three-year vocational upper secondary education, while there was only a modest increase in the number of vacancies for people with a tertiary education.
The declining number of young people enrolled in three-year vocational upper secondary education is creating problems on the labour market, resulting in a deficit in certain occupational profiles. According to data from the Employment Service of Slovenia in 2011, there was low unemployment in certain occupations for those with vocational upper secondary education (for example for cook, waiters, welder, mechanic, joiner, bricklayer and carpenter). The same situation holds true for technical upper secondary education (for example engine technician, electrotechnician, electrotechnician electronic engineer, computer technician and health technician). The number of young people enrolled in some programmes such as engineering, manufacturing and construction and in the field of science and health could be higher. In 2009/10 and 2010/11 ( ) the number of young people enrolled in engineering, manufacturing and construction decreased. More encouraging were the trends in the field of science and in the field of health and welfare, where the number increased.