ZAGREB, 21 Nov, 2021 - The average net wage earned in Croatia in September amounted to HRK 7,108 (€948), and over the period of one year, the average take-home pay has risen by 361 kuna (€48), however, the latest monthly average pay decreased by 10 kuna (€1.3) on the month, the Večernji List daily reported on Sunday.

According to DZS data, the median net pay in September was HRK 6,017, which means that half of the people employed earned wages below that amount and half earned wages above that amount.

Also, an estimated 136,000 workers, that is 10% of all employees in the legal entities, earned less than 3,854 kuna (€514), reported the daily newspaper.

Rise in wages in the IT and hospitality sectors

Broken down by the sectors, the biggest rise (+9%) in the average monthly salaries over the last year was seen in the IT sector and the tourism and hospitality industry.

In the public sector, salaries in the healthcare sector increased 6.5%. The daily reports that the average monthly wage in Croatian hospitals is HRK 9,600 (€1,280).

In the social welfare sector, the average monthly wage is HRK 6,100, and in primary schools, HRK 7,800, while the average monthly wage for employees in secondary schools is HRK 7,900, and the average salary paid by universities is HRK 11,000.

The average net salary in the state administration is below HRK 8,200.

The average wage in the manufacturing sector has risen by about hundred kuna to HRK 6,572.

Low tax ethics

A survey conducted by researchers Josip Franić and Stanislaw Cichocki show that every one in four employees in Croatia (27%) actually receive  higher amounts of monthly wage than the salary reported to the relevant institutions.

The survey conducted in September 2019 shows that every one in seven employees in the European Union has nothing against the cheating in the reporting a lower tax base so that they can get actually a higher monthly pay off-the-books.

"One in seven fully declared EU workers would have nothing against receiving one part of their wages off-the-books," according to the research.

For instance, in Croatia 17.6% of the respondents said they had nothing against receiving one part of their wages off-the-books, and in the Netherlands, this percentage stood at 25%, whereas Portugal had the lowest number of workers who are willing to opt for wage under-reporting.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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ZAGREB, 20 May 2021 - Croatia's take-home pay in March came to HRK 7,138, rising 6.3% on the year in the nominal terms and five percent in the real terms, according to the data released by the national statistical office on Thursday (DZS).

The average wage in March rose by 1.4% in the nominal terms and o.3% in the real terms in comparison to February 2021.

The DZS says on its website that "the highest average monthly paid off net earnings per person in paid employment in legal entities for March 2021 were paid off in Information service activities and amounted to 13 237 kuna, while the lowest earnings were paid off in the activity Manufacture of wearing apparel and amounted to 4 387 kuna."

Median net earnings for March 2021 amounted to 6,000 kuna, while median gross earnings amounted to 7 728 kuna. It means that half of the people employed were paid less and the other half more than this net amount.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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Finance Minister Maric spoke for Dnevnik HRT about the budget, the economic situation in the rapidly approaching autumn, money for Croatia from the European Union and other topics.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of August, 2020, the Croatian Government projected a budget deficit of 25 billion kuna and when asked what the latest data was and whether the forecasts would be in those dimensions, Minister Maric said that Croatia had achieved practically all of its financing needs with well-known programmes, reports HRT.

"Our needs, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, have increased from 30.5 billion kuna to 64 billion kuna. In circumstances such as the ones we're currently in, we can state with satisfaction that we've fulfilled all of our obligations for financing in 2020, Minister Maric emphasised. When asked how much the interest rates were in line with the expectations, Maric said that the seven-year bonds, at 0.75 percent, were on good terms.

''The two billion euros that followed in the international financial market mark one of the highest quality bonds we've issued in the international financial market on the investor interest book itself at 1.5 percent for 11 years, and these latest data refer sto maturities of 12-14 , 5 years, and the interest rates are between 0.25 and 0.50 percent. I think that these are good conditions in the given circumstances,'' Minister Maric emphasised.

A 9.4 percent drop is forecast for this year. In a month, the Croatian Government will come out with new projections based on all the information we have. Maric said that all the measures that were put into operation from the first day were aimed at preserving liquidity and preserving jobs.

"We've amortised that first wave in an adequate way, but there are still days ahead of us and the Government will follow the epidemiological picture and continue to do everything to continue the trend of preserving jobs and to start the recovery as soon as possible," said Minister Maric.

Maric said that challenges exist and that Croatia as a country must learn to deal with them, as it did in the first wave of the pandemic. 750 billion euros from EU funds is a great chance for Croatia, but also for the entire EU economy, and it is an opportunity to make a step forward for the domestic economy, but also for society as a whole, Zdravko Maric pointed out.

"Informal and formal consultations with the Commission and other relevant bodies on the programme will start in October. In April, all countries, including Croatia, are obliged to send a National Recovery Plan and in it, among other things, define both structural reforms and investment activities that should be the key determinants of spending and absorption of the part [of the money] related to the recovery plan and resilience,'' he said.

He pointed out that the basic idea at the national level is to create the necessary preconditions for the quality implementation of several strong and recognisable projects, and also not neglect balanced regional development as one of the postulates of the Republic of Croatia.

"As far as the private economy is concerned, we want to make the most of EU funds, so that they reach those who are key drivers of our economy and investments in an adequate way, either in the form of grants or in the form of quality loans," he stressed.

When asked when the minimum wage can be expected to increase and taxes to be reduced, Minister Maric said that work would begin on that after the summer break.

"As Minister of Finance, I advocate the maximum responsibility for taxpayers, which we've done in the past four years, and return to the path of a balanced budget as soon as possible," he said, adding that in parallel there will be greater absorption from the recovery fund.

He pointed out that the details will be known in autumn.

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ZAGREB, July 30, 2020 - The average gross wage in Croatia in 2019 was €1,182, according to Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies data, which is the third-highest gross wage in the region, after Slovenia and the Czech Republic, Raiffeisen Bank (RBA) said on Thursday.

The average gross wage in Slovenia was €1,754 and in the Czech Republic it was €1,329, followed by Poland (€1,144), Hungary (€1,131), Slovakia (€1,092), Romania (€1,038), Bulgaria (€652) and Serbia (€643).

Although Croatia is among the countries with an average gross salary above €1,000, growths in comparable countries differ significantly, RBA analysts said.

In most of the countries observed, annual growth rates since 2008 were more pronounced, while in Croatia it remained relatively stable, slightly above €1,000.

Eurostat data show that the minimum gross wage in Croatia in the first half of this year was €546. It was €575 in the Czech Republic, €580 in Slovakia, €611 in Poland and €941 in Slovenia.

In other comparable countries it was lower - €487 in Hungary, €466 in Romania, €343 in Serbia and €312 in Bulgaria.

RBA analysts say the minimum gross wage in Croatia makes up 46% of the average gross wage. It is lower in Hungary and the Czech Republic (43% each) and Romania (45%), while being higher in Bulgaria (48%), Slovakia, Serbia and Poland (53% each) and Slovenia (54%).

In Croatia, the average gross wage in 2019 was HRK 8,993, nominally up 4.4% on the year. At the end of last year, the government set the minimum net wage for this year at a gross HRK 4,062.51, HRK 312 more than for 2019.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

A comparison of wage developments in the ten most important industries across the Republic of Croatia over the last four years shows that wage growth in the education sector has unfortunately been among the lowest.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of August, 2019, the payroll story in Croatia is only getting more interesting as the increasingly powerful Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić, is seeking an immediate increase in teacher salaries of ten percent, and an additional seven percent per year.

That, according to Mayor Bandić, would send out a strong message that education is the future of Croatia. Salaries in the public sector have begun to increase steadily since back in 2017, after a stagnation of almost ten years, but a similar trend was also observed in the private sector, which is facing a large number of workers' departures due to low salaries, Vecernji list reports.

This year, wage growth in Croatia has slowed to just two percent, averaging just a little under 6,500 kuna per month. In the last four years, the average wage in Croatian has grown by sixteen percent, with lower wages rising more due to a significant increase in the minimum wage, and better paid ones benefiting somewhat from certain tax policy alterations.

However, in general, wages in Croatia are growing more slowly than in other transition countries, but so are the overall economic developments. According to official statistics, in June 2019, education employees in Croatia received an average of 6,782 kuna, which is a system where seventy percent of employees in primary schools and more than eighty percent of employees in high schools and colleges hold a university degree, and according to some, those wages should therefore be higher.

As previously mentioned, a comparison of wage developments in the ten most important industries in Croatia over the past four years shows that wage growth in the education sector has sadly been among the lowest of all, rising by ten percent in four years, unlike the average wage in Croatia, which has somewhat more encouragingly increased by sixteen percent. Currently, salaries in education are higher than the average salary, but only by a mere five percent. The dilemma is not whether or not highly educated professors or doctors should receive higher wages, as that goes without saying, but the question is rather - how can we get there?

The answer might also include a significant reduction in public sector employment, especially in education where employment is booming even though schools across Croatia are seeing significantly fewer students enroll.

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