What Pensioners? Number of Croatian Retired Employees Jumps 40 Percent

Lauren Simmonds

As Novac/Marina Klepo writes on the 9th of February, 2020, in the past year, since the Croatian Government expanded work opportunities for retirees, many Croatian retired people have taken this opportunity.

Last November, according to HZMO data, there were 11,737 pensioners who had taken up work under the measures. Whereas back at the end of 2016, for example, there were only about 2,600 retirees engaged in such work, about a year later, there were about 3,500, and at the end of 2018, there were 4,600. Who are these Croatian retired people willing to extend their time on the labour market?

Most of them are men, who make up 7,246 or 62 percent of the total employees. According to the chosen occupations, as shown by HZMO statistics for the first eleven months of 2019, this opportunity was mostly used by experts in industries and scientists, 2,282 of them.This means that almost every fifth employed pensioner is an expert in their field or a scientist.

This was followed by engineers and technicians (1,730), followed by managers, members and officials of legislative and state bodies, and directors (1,729), and in fourth place came service and commercial professions (1,383). It follows that the people who are the most interested in working during their retirement are those working in better paid positions.

However, when looking at the activities they’re engaged in, the first place is shop work, employing about 2,200 Croatian retired people, the second is the manufacturing industry with 1,500 pensioners, and more than a thousand are in the construction industry. About 800 of them work in transport and warehousing, as many work in health and social care, while about 400 are engaged in the field of education. The ability to work four hours per day for pensioners in Croatia was first legalised by former Labour Minister Mirando Mrsic. At the time, the opportunity was only available to those who had reached legal retirement age.

At the beginning of last year, the possibility of employing pensioners, while still fully retaining their pension, was extended to those who had for whatever reason retired early. Thus, at the end of last year, 3,073 people who had retired early were employed, and 8,815 of them were at Croatia’s normal retirement age.

An additional benefit is reserved for active duty military personnel, police officers and mine clearance workers who can choose whether to work for up to four hours a day while retaining a full pension, or to be employed full-time and receive 50 percent of their pension.

Work under this scheme for Croatian retired people also gives them the opportunity to receive a higher pension. A pensioner who is employed for four hours a day may request a new pension calculation after two years of being engaged in such work.

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