ZAGREB, June 1, 2020 – Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic said on Sunday up to 100,000 workers would be entitled to money from the government’s job-retention measures, which would be adopted month by month, and that he expected shorter working hours in June.
“We decided to adopt decisions month by month so that we can follow the situation the whole time,” he said on Nova TV, adding that “up to HRK 400 million for June will be paid in July” and the state budget would not be tapped for that.
“In a way, we overestimated the number of beneficiaries in April and May. We expect there to be somewhat fewer beneficiaries because the economy started opening in May, so that we will finance that measure from the internal reserves of the Croatian Employment Service.”
Aladrovic said labour market trends were being followed on a daily basis and that the aid amount for the economy would be increased if necessary, “notably for the most critical sectors.”
He said he did not expect mass layoffs and that shorter working hours were expected to be agreed with the social partners in June. “That could be very interesting to employers in the manufacturing and food industries.”
Aladrovic said that the caretaker government could decree shorter working hours and that employers would pay for part of them and the state for the rest, so that wages would not be cut.
He said the money for such measures was envisaged in the European Commission’s Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency instrument and that Croatia was expected to receive €400 million.
The instrument is expected to be presented in the coming week, he said, adding that it was a loan and the money would be allocated swiftly enough so as to impact the economy.
