ZAGREB, 6 March, 2021 - Croatia is at the bottom of the EU ranking of women at management level and women in the EU are still far from being men's equals, according to an Eurostat report.

The COVID-19 pandemic "has led to unprecedented changes in the workplace," Eurostat said, but data on men and women at management level continue to reveal familiar patterns.

"While both women and men bring different qualities to crisis management, women remain outnumbered at the management level," Eurostat said.

"In Q3 2020, more than 9.5 million people held a managerial position in the EU: 6.2 million men and 3.3 million women. Although women represent almost half of all employed persons in the EU (46%), they are under-represented amongst managers (34%)."

In the past 20 years, the share of women in managerial postions "has gradually increased from just below 30% in Q2 2002."

Latvia and Poland on top

Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovenia have the highest shares of women managers, with Latvia recording the highest share in Q3 2020 (45%), followed by Poland (44%).

Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia and Sweden are next, each with a 42% share.

Above the EU average are Ireland, Romania, Finland, Estonia, Spain, France, Portugal, Slovakia and Lithuania, their shares of women managers ranging from 38 to 35%.

In Denmark and Germany, less than one in three managers were women according to data for Q4 2019. 

"At the opposite end of the scale, women account for only around a quarter of managers in Croatia (24%), the Netherlands (26%) and Cyprus (27%)," Eurostat said.

ZAGREB, 4 March, 2021 - The unemployment rate in the European Union and the euro area remained stable in January 2021 compared with the previous month, while in Croatia it slid below the EU average, a Eurostat report showed on Thursday.

The EU unemployment rate was 7.3% in January 2021, stable compared with December 2020 and up from 6.6% in January 2020. The euro area rate was 8.1%, also stable compared with December 2020 and up from 7.4% in January 2020.

A total of 15.663 million people in the EU were unemployed in January 2021, including 13.282 million in the euro area. Compared with December 2020, their number increased by 29,000 in the EU and by 8,000 in the euro area. Compared with January 2020, unemployment rose by 1.465 million in the EU and by 1.010 million in the euro area.

The highest unemployment rate was recorded in Spain, of 16%, while all other member states had unemployment rates of below 10%. The lowest rates were registered in Poland (3.1%), the Czech Republic (3.2%) and the Netherlands (3.6%).

In Croatia, the unemployment rate in January 2021 was 7.1%, down from 7.6% in December 2020. A total of 126,000 Croatians were out of work in January, or 9,000 fewer than in the previous month. In January 2020, the unemployment rate in Croatia was 6%, with 107,000 people out of work.

No data was available for Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy and Romania.

Youth unemployment unchanged

The EU youth unemployment rate remained at 16.9% in January 2021, unchanged from December 2020. The euro area rate was 17.1%, down from 18.5% in the previous month.

In January 2021, a total of 2.929 million young people were unemployed in the EU, including 2.356 million in the euro area. Compared with December 2020, their number increased by 3,000 in the EU and decreased by 15,000 in the euro area. Compared with January 2020, their number rose by 184,000 in the EU and by 89,000 in the euro area.

The highest youth unemployment rate was recorded in Spain, of 39.9%, ahead of Portugal (24.6%) and Sweden (24.1%). The lowest rates were registered in Germany (6.2%), the Netherlands (9.1%) and Austria (9.7%). 

In Croatia, which is not required to provide monthly data on youth unemployment, the youth unemployment rate in the last quarter of 2020 was 22.2%, with 31,000 young people out of work.

ZAGREB, 15 January, 2021 - In Q3 2020 Croatia continued to record an increase in house prices that was above the EU average but it was also among the four countries where those prices fell compared to the previous quarter, shows a Eurostat report.

Real estate prices in the EU in Q3 2020 rose by 5.2% from the same period of 2019 and the same increase was also registered in Q2.

In the euro area house prices grew by 4.9%, just as in Q2.

Among the EU countries for which data were available, house prices grew the most in Q3 again in Luxembourg, by 13.6%, and in Poland, by 10.9%. Austria followed with an increase of 8.8%.

In Croatia, prices of real estate in Q3 2020 grew by 6.9% from the same period of 2019. They grew by 8.3% in Q2 and by 9.1% in Q1.

A year-on-year decline in house prices was reported in Q3 only by Cyprus and Ireland, of 1.4% and 0.8% respectively.

House prices in the EU in Q3 grew by 1.4% from Q2, when they rose at the same rate.

Among EU countries, real estate prices in Q3 grew the most on the quarter in Hungary, by 5.2%, according to preliminary statistics.

Hungary is followed by Denmark and Latvia, with quarterly increases of 4.2% and 3.7% respectively.

In Croatia house prices in Q3 were down from Q2 for the first time in slightly more than two years, by 0.6%. They grew by 1.8% in Q2 and by 2.7% in Q1.

The other countries that saw a quarterly drop in house prices were Cyprus (-4.8%), Romania (-2.6%) and Italy (-2.5%).

ZAGREB, Dec 12, 2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequential lockdown have led to an unprecedented rise in the number of workers absent from work and an increased number of jobs lost, according to Eurostat, while the Vecernji List daily said in its comment on Saturday that Croatian workers fared worst in the EU.

The Vecernji List daily says that the corona crisis reduced this year's income of Croatian workers by 10.6% compared to 2019.

The estimated loss for median employment income at EU level is -5.2% in 2020 compared with 2019, says Eurostat.

Considering the estimated loss for median employment income, apart from workers in Croatia, also workers in Greece, France and Cyprus were adversely affected. Thus, the loss for median employment income in their countries was above 7%.

The smallest loss was in Latvia, Hungary, Denmark and Sweden.

The loss stems from COVID-related absence from work or fewer working hours, says the Zagreb-based daily newspaper.

Broken down by sector, the hospitality and tourism sector experienced a 16.8% loss, while the arts, entertainment and creative industries registered 10.9% loss for median employment income due to the corona crisis.

"The current COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the economic shutdown due to sanitary measures have led to an unprecedented rise in the number of workers absent from work and an increased number of jobs lost," the EU statistical office has reported.

The Eurostat notes that these conclusions are based on "the first results of a nowcasting exercise focused on the estimation of employment income losses along the distribution. All figures provided are part of the experimental statistics produced by Eurostat in the frame of advanced estimates on income inequality and poverty indicators."

"The impact of the crisis is very unequally spread between Member States and is particularly strong for the most vulnerable sub-groups of the working population, with low wage earners having losses 3 to 6 times larger than high wage earners in half of the EU Member States," says Eurostat.

Croatia among members that contribute most to mitigate income loss 

National governments have put in place or activated short-term work schemes to address the COVID-19 economic challenges, in particular, policies to preserve jobs (wage compensation schemes). These contributed to mitigate the income loss in all EU countries with the overall income loss reduced by half, says Eurostat.

 According to Eurostat, Croatia, France, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands are member states in which their respective governments have done the most to mitigate the income loss of employees.

The Vecernji List comments that the loss in Croatian could not be completely offset since state schemes and grants did not fully covered the original income and compensatory measures did not reach those who were left out of work.

ZAGREB, October 29, 2020 - Domestic tourism in the European Union has seen a faster recovery from the consequences of the first wave of the epidemic than foreign tourism, and Croatia is among countries with the mildest drop in domestic overnight stays, according to Eurostat data.

In 2020, the tourism sector was hit hard by the travel restrictions at the end of Q1 and at the beginning of Q2, which resulted in a sharp drop in the number of tourists in March and April compared to the same period last year.

In June, most countries started to relax the restrictions, but tourists still had to undergo quarantine after returning from some foreign destinations, and the result was a faster recovery of domestic tourism than of foreign tourism, Eurostat said.

After a 93% slump in April, domestic tourism in the EU came closer to last year's level in July, with a 22% decrease in domestic overnights stay in tourist accommodation. Overnight stays of foreign guests dropped by 64%, according to Eurostat.

Biggest jump in Slovenia

The Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria and Slovenia registered more domestic overnight stays in July 2020 than in July 2019. In Slovenia, their number more than doubled.

In Croatia, the number of domestic overnight stays in July 2020 was 8.1% lower than in July 2019. The number of overnight stays of foreign guests fell by 44.6% compared to July last year.

This placed Croatia among EU countries with the mildest drop in overnight stays by domestic and foreign guests, together with Cyprus, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Austria and Latvia.

The biggest drop in the number of foreign visitors, of over 80%, was registered by Spain, Portugal, Finland and Romania, the report by the Europan statistical office has shown.

ZAGREB, October 22, 2020 - Croatia and 16 other EU member states recorded a budget surplus in 2019 but the public debt was above the prescribed upperlimit of 60% of GDP, shows a second Eurostat estimate released on Thursday.

The EU27 in 2019 recorded an average budget deficit of 0.5% of GDP, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous estimate, released in April.

In 2018 the deficit was 0.4%.

The euro area saw a budget deficit of 0.6% of GDP in 2019 and of 0.5% in 2018, which confirms the previous estimate, released in April.

Budget revenue expressed as a share in GDP was 46.1% in 2019 in the EU while budget expenses accounted for 46.7% of GDP.

In the euro area budget revenue was 46.4% and expenses 47.1% of GDP, Eurostat said.

Denmark has highest surplus

A total of 17 EU countries recorded a budget surplus, with Denmark reporting the highest, of 3.8%, followed by Luxembourg (2.5%), Bulgaria (1.9%) and the Netherlands (1.7%).

A budget surplus of below one percent was reported by a group of countries led by Austria, which reported a budget surplus of 0.7%.

Croatia had a general government surplus of 0.4% of GDP, with the surplus rising by HRK 112 million to HRK 962 million. In 2018 the share of the budget surplus in GDP was 0.2%.

A budget deficit at the upper allowed limit of 3% of GDP was reported by France, while Romania exceeded it with a budget deficit of 4.4%.

EU, euro area debt down in 2019

In the EU27 the public debt, expressed as a share in GDP, in 2019 dropped to 77.6% from 79.6% in 2018, with the April estimate having been slightly revised down.

In the euro area the public debt in 2019 was 84% of GDP, which confirms the April estimate.

As for 2018, the estimate was revised slightly up, to 85.8% of GDP.

Public debt highest in Greece

A total of 11 EU countries in 2019 crossed the upper allowed level of debt expressed as a share in GDP of 60%.

The highest debt to GDP ratio was reported by Greece, 180.5%, Italy, 134.7%, and Portugal, 117.2%.

Croatia's debt-to-GDP ratio in 2019 was 72.8% or HRK 292.9 billion. In April the share of debt was estimated at 73.2% of GDP and the debt amounted to 293.02 billion.

In 2018 Croatia's public debt totalled 74.3% of GDP, shows the latest estimate. In April it was estimated at 74.7%.

In 2019 Estonia had the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio, of 8.4%.

ZAGREB, Sept 15, 2020  - Croatia and Malta are the two EU countries that saw the weakest growth of hourly labor costs in the second quarter of this year, many times lower than the EU average, which was supported by a strong increase in wage costs, shows a report from the EU's statistical office Eurostat.

In the EU27, working day-adjusted hourly labor costs grew by 4.1% in Q2 compared to the same period of last year. In Q4 2019, they grew by 3.9%.

In the euro area, hourly labor costs in Q2 grew by 4.2%, after a 3.7% increase in the previous three months.

Wage costs in both the EU and the euro area grew more strongly than in Q1 despite measures introduced to contain the coronavirus. In the EU they grew by 5.3%, after a 4.1% increase in Q1, while in the euro area they rose by 5.2%, after a 3.9% increase in Q1.

In both the EU and the euro area, the increase in hourly wage costs indicates that the decrease in the number of hours worked, due to the COVID-19 crisis, was not fully compensated by a matching decrease in wages, says Eurostat.

This increase in hourly wage costs was partly compensated by the moderate increase in the non-wage component, due to tax reliefs and subsidies introduced by EU governments to support enterprises affected by the crisis.

Hourly labor costs in the EU grew the most in the services sector, by 4.3%, followed by industry and construction, where they grew by 3.9% and 2.3% respectively.

In the euro area, the services sector saw the strongest increase in total labor costs, of 4.4%, followed by industry, with an increase of 3.8%, and construction, with a 2.8% increase.

Labor costs grow least in Malta, Croatia

Of the EU countries for which data was available, Romania saw the strongest increase in hourly labor costs in Q2, of 16.1%, almost twice as high as in Q1.

Croatia and Malta saw the weakest growth in hourly labor costs, of 0.7% and 0.8% respectively. In Q1 hourly labor costs in Croatia grew by 0.6%.

Wage costs in Croatia grew by 1.5% n the period from April to June, almost the same rate as in Q1. The cost of contributions dropped by 3.9%, after a 4.2% decline in Q1.

The largest drop in hourly labor costs in the EU in Q2 was reported by Cyprus, of 8.6%, followed by Ireland, with a drop of 3.3%.

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ZAGREB, Sept 8, 2020  - Croatia is among the EU countries with the sharpest GDP declines in Q2 of this year compared with the previous quarter, according to Eurostat's estimate released on Tuesday. 

In the second quarter of 2020, compared with the previous quarter, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 11.4% in the EU and by 11.8% in the euro area. In the first quarter of the year, GDP had declined by 3.3% in the EU and by 3.7% in the euro area.

Compared with the second quarter of 2019, seasonally adjusted GDP fell by 13.9% in the EU and by 14.7% in the euro area, following declines of 2.7% and 3.2% respectively in the first quarter.

Spain sees by far the sharpest drop

All the EU member states recorded declines in economic activity in the second quarter, both month on month and year on year.

The sharpest quarterly decline, of 18.5%, was recorded in Spain, followed by Croatia (-14.9%), Hungary (-14.5%), Greece (-14.0%), Portugal (-13.9%) and France (-13.8%). In the first quarter of the year, Croatia observed a GDP decline of 1.3% quarter on quarter. 

Germany, the EU's strongest economy, saw its GDP shrink by 9.7%.

The lowest quarterly declines of GDP were observed in Finland (-4.5%), Lithuania (-5.5%), and Estonia (-5.6%).

Compared with the second quarter of 2019, the largest GDP declines were recorded in Spain (-22.1%), France (-18.9%), and Italy (-17.7%). The German economy contracted by 11.3%.

Croatia's GDP fell by 15.1% compared with the second quarter of last year, while in the first quarter of this year it had grown by 0.3% year on year.

The lowest annual declines were observed in Ireland (-3.7%) and Lithuania (-4.0%).  

A heavy blow to employment

The pandemic and measures put in place to contain the spread of the infection dealt a heavy blow to employment both in the EU and the euro area, resulting in the sharpest declines in the number of people employed in both zones since Eurostat started tracking data.

The number of employed persons decreased by 2.7% in the EU and by 2.9% in the euro area in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the previous quarter. In the first quarter of this year, employment had declined by 0.2% in the EU and by 0.3% in the euro area.

Compared with the second quarter of 2019, employment fell by 2.9% in the EU and by 3.1% in the euro area, after increasing by 0.4% in both zones in the first quarter.

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The Republic of Croatia is at the very top of the list of European Union countries in terms of the number of temporary employees, according to a new Eurostat survey for the year 2019.

As Novac writes on the 20th of June, 2020, as many as 18 percent of Croats, in the total number of employees working with temporary employment contracts, seasonally or through an employment agency. The share of temporary workers is higher only in Spain (24 percent), Poland (21 percent) and in Portugal (19 percent).

At the same time, Croatia is the only country in the whole of the European Union in which significantly more Croats are employed in temporary work positions compared to foreign nationals working in Croatia. In other words, out of one hundred employees born in Croatia, 18 of them are employed in temporary positions, while when it comes to the same number of employed foreigners (born outside of Croatia and the EU) only 14 of them work temporarily.

This is a completely reverse trend when compared to all other European Union countries in which, on average, almost a quarter (22 percent) of foreign nationals work in temporary positions and 13 percent of the domicile population are employed.

The trend of high temporary (or occasional) employment of Croatian nationals can be partly explained by the fact that European statisticians take the data for seasonal jobs into their calculations. Namely, a large number of Croats are employed exclusively during the summer tourist season, mostly in the catering, tourism and hospitality sector.

As far as European Union countries in Croatia's immediate area are concerned, Eurostat's report shows that the share of temporarily employed Italians stands at 16 percent, Slovenes 12 percent, and Hungarians a little more than five percent. The share of foreigners employed on temporary contracts in Italy is over 20 percent, in Slovenia almost 15 percent, and in Hungary a little more than 10 percent.

Germany, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Malta, for example, all have a similar share of foreign temporary workers as Croatia does (all at around 15 percent). However, a smaller percentage of the domicile population in those countries work in temporary jobs. 11 percent in Slovenia do so, nine percent in Germany, seven percent in the Czech Republic and five percent in Malta.

On the other hand, the largest share of those born outside the European Union and who are employed on temporary contracts is in Poland (53 percent), followed by Spain (38 percent), Cyprus (33 percent), Portugal (29 percent), Sweden (26 percent) and the Netherlands (25 percent).

The lowest share, on the other hand, was recorded in Estonia (2 percent), followed by Latvia (4 percent), Austria (8 percent) and Ireland (10 percent). However, in all these countries, the employment of the domicile population on temporary contracts is either lower or at the same level.

According to the explanation, the Eurostat survey serves, among other things, to compare the position of migrants in relation to the domicile population, but also to monitor the success of European Union policies in regard to the integration of migrants.

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January 26, 2020 - While almost every EU Member State registered an increase in domestic tourism, Croatia recorded the third-largest increase in the number of overnight stays of local guests.

HRTurizam reports that the number of tourist overnights in the European Union was expected to reach over 3.2 billion last year, which is up 2.4 percent from 2018. Since 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation in the European Union, mainly thanks to the rise in the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists.

In 2019, Spain (469 million nights, + 0.5% more than in 2018) maintained its lead over France (446 million, + 0.8%), Germany (436 million, + 4.0%), Italy (433 million, + 0.9%) and the United Kingdom (375 million, + 5.7%). Croatia recorded 91.2 million overnight stays, which is up 1.8 percent from a year ago.

These early estimates, which include business and private overnight stays, are from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The highest increase in overnight stays was recorded in Slovakia and Lithuania

The number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation in 2019 increased in almost all Member States, with the highest being recorded in Slovakia (+ 12.6%) and Lithuania (+ 10%). They are followed by the Netherlands (+ 6.8%), the United Kingdom (+ 5.7%) and Romania (+ 5.6%).

On the other hand, the only decrease in the number of overnight stays was recorded in Greece (-3%) and Malta (-2.7%).

The share of overnight stays of domestic tourists is highest in Romania and of foreign tourists in Malta

In the European Union, the number of overnight stays by domestic tourists increased at the same pace (+ 2.4%) between 2018 and 2019 as the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists (+ 2.4%).

Almost every EU Member State registered an increase in the number of overnight stays of domestic guests, with the largest being recorded in Slovakia (+ 15.1%), Cyprus (+ 13%), Croatia (+ 10%), Lithuania (+ 9.9%) and Malta (+ 9.2%).

Also, the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists increased in most Member States, with the largest being recorded in the United Kingdom (+ 19.2%), the Netherlands (+ 10.6%), Lithuania (+ 10%) and Slovakia (+8. 4%).

In the EU Member States, the highest share of domestic tourist overnights was recorded in Romania (83% of total nights), Germany and Poland (80%) and Sweden (75%). On the other hand, the highest share of overnight stays of foreign guests was recorded in Malta (95%), Cyprus (94%), Croatia (92%) and Luxembourg (88%).

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