14 February, 2022 - A total of 130,993 unemployed persons were registered with the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) at the end of January 2022, up by 4.2% from the previous month and down 20.8% while compared with January 2021, the HZZ said on Monday.

HZZ records show that there were 5,278 unemployed people or 4.2% more at the end of January 2022 than at the end of December 2021.

Daily figures, available on the HZZ website, show that 129,817 unemployed persons are currently registered with the HZZ, which is 1,176 fewer than at the end of January. Currently, HZZ has 29,810 job vacancies advertised.

A comparison of data from the previous month shows that at the end of January 2022 there were 34,352 jobseekers or 20.8% fewer than at the end of January 2021.

A total of 16,683 people registered with the HZZ in January 2022, which is 3.4% more than in January 2021. HZZ also notes that 11,405 people were signed off from the unemployment register, which is 7.3% more than in January 2021.

In January 2022 a total of 29,396 people, or 22.4% of the total number of unemployed persons, were eligible for the dole, which is 18.8% or 6,788 fewer than in January 2021, HZZ reported.

ZAGREB, July 2, 2020 - In May 2020, Croatia was among five EU member states with the highest increase in unemployment compared to April, the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, said in a report on Thursday, reflecting the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

Many European countries are trying to prevent job losses with special job keeping measures or forced leave or a shorter working week.

At the same time governments have started gradually relieving lockdown measures and enterprises have begun operating and employing again.

Eurostat underscored that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented situation on the labour market so that additional indicators will be included in future reports including employment, under-employment and potential additional stakeholders on the labour market.

In today's report Eurostat notes that the EU's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in May was 6.7%, equal to May 2019. In April unemployment was 6.6%.

A total of 14.366 million men and women in the EU were unemployed in May 2020. Compared to April that number increased by 253,000. 

Croatia alongside Lithuania and Latvia

The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in Croatia in May was 8.9% or 0.8 percentage points higher than in April.

A total of 164,000 Croatians were out of work in May or 16,000 more than in April and 44,000 more than in May 2019.

Croatia is alongside Lithuania and Latvia which too recorded an increase in unemployment in May of 0.8 percentage points.

Cyprus recorded the biggest increase in unemployment (+1.3 p.p.). 

The lowest unemployment rates in May were recorded in Spain (14.5%) followed by Cyprus (10.2%).

The marked rise in youth unemployment

In May 2020, 2.815 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU.

In May 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 15.7% in the EU, up from 15.4% in the previous month. Compared with April 2020, youth unemployment increased by 64,000 in the EU.