However, Croatia is still among the worst EU member states.
In August, Croatia recorded the biggest drop in the unemployment rate compared to the same month last year among all the countries of the European Union, although its unemployment rate still remains among the highest in the EU, according to data released on Friday by the European statistical office, reports Jutarnji List on September 30, 2016.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate according to the methodology of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Croatia in August slipped to 12.9 percent, from 13 percent which was the revised rate in July, reported Eurostat. In August of last year, the rate stood at 16.6 percent, which means that Croatia, according to the data available to Eurostat, recorded the biggest decline in the unemployment rate on an annual basis among the EU countries. The second place belongs to Cyprus where the unemployment rate fell year-on-year by 2.6 percentage points to 12.1 percent.
However, Croatia is still among the three EU countries with the highest unemployment rate. The group is led by Greece with the unemployment rate of 23.4 percent in June, followed by Spain with 19.5 percent. The lowest unemployment rate among EU countries in August was recorded in the Czech Republic (3.9 percent), followed by Germany (4.2) percent.
According to Eurostat, in August there were 237,000 unemployed people in Croatia, which was 3,000 less than the previous month. Compared to last August, the number decreased by 79,000, according to the Eurostat report.
Eurostat did not have data on youth unemployment in Croatia in August. However, it raised its assessment of the youth unemployment rate in Croatia in the second quarter to 31.7 percent, from 29.5 percent estimated in a report published in August. In last year’s second quarter, the youth unemployment rate was 44.6 percent. According to the latest data, in the second quarter of this year there were 59,000 unemployed young people in Croatia.
