Youth employment incentives and changes in methodology have influenced employment statistics in 2015.
Since the beginning of the recession, number of people employed in businesses has followed GDP figures, so the number of employed persons in Croatia during this period has fallen by 200,000. However, according to analysts from the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) who compared these two parameters, two years stand out – 2012 and 2015, reports Poslovni.hr on July 27, 2016.
Despite poor economic trends, the employment in 2012 was a result of the positive effect of the reduction of the contributions on salaries. If it wasn’t for this measure, HZZ analysts said, the trends in employment would have been far more negative in 2012. The decision to annul this measure in 2014 contributed to the decrease in employment that was bigger than expected given the economic trends.
Regarding 2015, HZZ indicates that the rate of the employment growth increased due to a “a special factor” and, although incentives for youth employment are sometimes mentioned as the major driver of employment, HZZ analysis states that it could have been caused by methodological changes in the way assessment of employment numbers was done. It is interesting, however, that “a special factor” had no effect on employment in the processing industry.
In this sector, the number of employed has registered a continuous decline since the third quarter of 2008, which it entered with almost 294,000 employees; in the last quarter of last year, the number fell slightly below 228,000 (or 66,000 less employees). The construction sector has, however, recorded the greatest impact of the economic developments, and the decline in business operations has lowered the need for employees. At the end of last year, compared to 2008, the number of workers in the construction sector fell by 61,000.
In trade, hospitality and transportation, the effect of reduction of the contribution on salaries has improved the situation in 2012 and 2013, but the number of employees has recorded a decrease in 2015.
