Ljubljana, 18 May (STA) - Slovenia's registered unemployment rate dropped a further 0.5 percentage in March to 12.8%, down 1.1 percentage points year-on-year, data from the Statistics Office shows.

Joblessness dropped in all of the country's statistical regions compared to the month before, except for the central Zasavje region, where it rose 0.1 of a percentage point to 15.7% from February.

The biggest drop in the proportion of people out of work was seen by Pomurje (NE) at the monthly rate of 1.3 percentage points. But the rate there remains the highest at 19.5%.

The male unemployment rate fell by 0.8 points to 11.7% from February, while the rate for women declined by a mere 0.2 points to 14.2%.

The registered jobless total stood at 118,099 in March, down 3.6% from February and down 6.8% from March 2014.

The number of people in employment rose by 0.6% from February and by 1.9% from March 2014 to 802,466. Male employment rose more than female with men representing 79.2% of the increase in employment in March.

Construction recorded the biggest increase in the number of jobs at the monthly level (+1,950 to 53,220), followed by wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (+480 to 104,430).