Tourist season is getting closer, which means it is time for unemployment rate to temporarily decline.
In late February, there were 238,934 unemployed persons registered in Croatia, which is 2.1 percent or 5,200 persons less than the previous month. Year-on-year, the number of unemployed decreased by 17.4 percent, or by 50,495 people, announced the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ), reports Večernji List on March 12, 2017.
February was the first month of decline after four consecutive months in which there was an increase in the number of unemployed.
Daily data from the HZZ website show that unemployment has continued to fall – on Friday, there were 234,647 unemployed persons, or 4,287 less than at the end of February. According to HZZ, there were 22,667 vacant jobs announced.
According to data, in February there were 18,692 newly-registered unemployed persons, which is 12.8 percent less than the year before. Most of them came directly from employment – 60.5 percent or 11,304 persons – which means they had lost their jobs. In February, 23,892 persons left the unemployment registry, which is 5.3 percent less than in February 2016. Of that number, 14,168 persons left the registry because they found a job, while others mostly retired or were deregistered because they failed to actively try to find a job.
Regional data show that the largest number of new jobs was opened in Split-Dalmatia County (1,691, or 13.3 percent of the total number), City of Zagreb (1,651 or 13 percent), Osijek-Baranja County (1,143 or 9 percent) and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (832 persons or 6.5 percent).
However, the same regions also lead the list by the number of unemployed persons. The first place belongs to Split-Dalmatia County (with 37,454 registered unemployed persons, or 15.7 percent), which is followed by City of Zagreb (28,879 or 12.5 percent) and Osijek-Baranja County (27,665 or 11.6 percent). The lowest number of unemployed persons was registered in Lika-Senj county (3,358 or 1.4 percent).
In the first half of the year, the unemployment rate traditionally declines due to tourism industry starting to hire people for seasonal jobs. Most of them lose the jobs after the summer is over, when the unemployment rate starts climbing again. As for the year-on-year decline, most of it is a consequence of people leaving Croatia and moving abroad, which is also seen in the number of employed persons, which is more or less stable, despite the falling number of unemployed persons.
