ZAGREB, 23 July 2022 - The Croatian Medical Chamber (HLK) on Friday said that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's comment on doctors being among the better-paid public employees was inappropriate and it countered with the explanation that those higher salaries were the result of their working additional hours.

Asked about reports that a thousand doctors in Croatia had handed in their resignations, Prime Minister Plenković said earlier on Friday that he did not know about it, adding that doctors were among the better-paid public employees in Croatia.

"The only ones that perhaps have a higher salary are air traffic controllers, who are complaining about HRK 50,000. A stressful job. Come on," he said. The Prime Minister underscored that the government had increased salaries in health care in general, and that he didn't know when someone would be satisfied.

I think everyone needs to realise what kind of global crisis we are in, and understand that this is a time when we have to return to our joint contribution to solidarity, Plenković said.

However, the Croatian Medical Chamber accuses Plenković of having intentionally kept silent about the fact that the examples of high salaries of some doctors, revealed in media, were actually the result of of their overtime work with even 150 or 200 extra hours a month.

The Croatian Medical Chamber explains that so many hours worked in excess by doctors in hospitals were the result of shortage of specialist doctors and some of those employed professionals employed work double time to keep the hospital system functioning and make it available to patients.

The press release signed by the medical chamber's president, Krešimir Luetić blames Prime Minister Plenković and Health Minister Vili Beroš of poor management of the hospital system, "irrational public procurement in the healthcare system" and long waiting lists.

ZAGREB, 29 Jan 2022 - An estimated 52,000 employed Croatians receive the minimum wage, and roughly 20,000 of them are workers in the wood-processing, leather, and textile industry.

In terms of the minimum wage for January 2022, Croatia ranked 21st, with €624, on the list of the 27 EU member-states. The other four countries at the bottom of the ranking were Hungary (€542), Romania (€515), Latvia (€500) and Bulgaria (€332), Večernji List (VL) reported on Saturday.

In 2022, the minimum wage was raised from HRK 3,400 to the net monthly amount of HRK 3,750 and the gross amount of 4,700, the daily newspaper recalled. In late October 2021, the parliament amended the Minimum Wage Act by majority vote whereby the gross minimum wage was raised to HRK 4,687  from HRK 4,250. As of this year, employers will have to contract the minimum wage with employees in the gross amount.

The daily newspaper says that in December 2021, one in ten employees got the take-home pay in the amount of HRK 3,915, or his or her gross wage was below HRK 4,772.  Slightly over 1.57 million people in Croatia were in employment in December 2021, according to the data provided by the national statistical office, which means that 3.3% of them were on the minimum wage (HRK 3,750)

In December, the average take-home wage was HRK 7,333 (€978), and in 2022, this monthly average is expected to finally exceed 1,000 euros. 

In 2022, the minimum wage will for the first time exceed 50% of the average wage, while five years ago it was equivalent to a mere 38% of the average monthly salary.

(€1= HRK 7.5)

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