Tax wedge and employment growth: Slovenia from an international perspective

V članku so obravnavane značilnosti davčnega primeža, stopnje zaposlenosti in brezposelnosti v državah OECD in EU-27, s posebnim poudarkom na Sloveniji, ter analiziran učinek davčnega primeža na zaposlenost. Rezultati empirične analize so pokazali, da lahko države OECD in EU-27 razvrstimo v dve skupini glede na stopnje zaposlenosti in brezposelnosti. Prva skupina beleži nizko stopnjo zaposlenosti in visoko stopnjo brezposelnosti ter visok davčni primež, medtem ko ima druga skupina držav obratne značilnosti. Negativni učinek davčnega primeža na rast zaposlenosti v EU-27 je potrdila tudi panelna regresijska analiza. Slovenija se uvršča med države z visokim davčnim primežem, za katere je še posebej pomembno, da slednjega še naprej znižujejo.The paper assesses the characteristics of tax wedge and employment and unemployment rates in the OECD countries and EU-27, with special emphasis on Slovenia, to analyse the tax wedge-employment relation. The empirical estimates show that, with regard to the employment and unemployment rates, OECD countries and the EU-27 can be classified into two groups. The first group is characterized by a high tax wedge, a low employment rate, and a high unemployment ratethe second group has the opposite characteristics. The negative effect of the tax wedge on emplo-yment growth was confirmed in a panel regression analysis. Slovenia is classified among countries with a high tax wedge, which is of special importance to continue with the dynamics of reducing the tax wedge