June the 12th, 2025 – Croatia is in third place in the EU when it comes to the employment growth intensity, which isn’t unusual at this time of year as employment follows Croatia’s typical seasonal cycle.
As Sinisa Malus/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Eurostat data revealed the above, with Erste analysts adding that only Ireland and Malta are ahead of Croatia in this sense. Croatia’s 2.9% annual growth also quite significantly exceeds the Central European average.
Back at the end of May this year, the number of employed people in Croatia reached 1.76 million, the highest level since 1991. This is a historic result that shows the continuous growth of the working population and the recovery of the labour market after years of stagnation.
This positive trend comes mostly from the trade, construction, hospitality, and healthcare and social welfare sectors. More and more people across Croatia now have an active work status and pay contributions to the pension system, which may also affect the stabilisation of the pension fund in the long term. Although Croatia as an independent country is not yet approaching the records from Yugoslavia when the number of employed people was significantly higher, the aforementioned figure gives us ample reason for optimism. It is particularly noteworthy that this increase in employment comes despite challenges such as emigration and demographic losses.
The largest number of insured persons by activity at the end of May was recorded in wholesale and retail trade (257,000) in the processing industry (251,000), construction (155,000) and education (132,000), according to the Croatian Pension Fund (HZMO).
Not all that glitters is gold, however, as the largest number of newly employed persons continues to be foreign citizens. Data from the Interior Ministry (MUP) shows that back in March, over 19,000 work permits were issued for foreign citizens from outside the EU. Of that sum, 12,000 permits relate to tourism, hospitality and construction. In May, data was published according to which the number of unemployed persons in Croatia fell below 80,000, confirming the continuation of the positive trend in the labour market.
According to the latest data from the Croatian Employment Service (CES), at the end of March 2025, there were 90,729 registered unemployed people. Due to Croatia’s typical accelerated seasonal growth in employment and additional administrative changes, the number dipped below 80,000 in April.
A comparison of the data from March 2025 with March 2024 shows a clear decrease in unemployment of 16.8%, or 18,363 people. Compared to February this year, the number of unemployed people in Croatia decreased by 5,584 people, or 5.8%.
A positive trend has also been recorded by almost all demographic groups, especially among women and the elderly. The number of unemployed women decreased by 22.9% (48,198 in total), while the decrease among men was 8.7% (42,531 in total). The most pronounced relative decrease was recorded among people aged 55 to 59 (26.7%), and the smallest among young people between the ages of 20 and 24 (8.5%).
“Looking at things on a country by country basis, Croatia recorded one of the highest employment growth rates in the entire EU (2.9% year-on-year and 1% quarter-on-quarter). The Czech Republic and Hungary were the other two CEE countries to record employment growth in the number of persons in the first quarter of 2025 on an annual basis (1.1% year-on-year and 0.3% year-on-year),” according to Erste Group analysts.
However, in neighbouring Hungary, employment stagnated compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. In the rest of the immediate region, employment growth declined – most notably in Romania and Poland. In Romania, employment fell by 4.4% year-on-year and 2.1% quarter-on-quarter. Furthermore, unemployment rates increased in both Romania and Poland. Overall, however, labour market conditions remain somewhat difficult.
In the first quarter of 2025, the number of employed people in the EU as a bloc increased by 0.7% compared to the same period in 2024. That corresponded to growth of 0.2% compared to the Eurozone (judging by seasonally adjusted data). Across the EU, employment growth in terms of the the number of persons stood at 0.4% compared to 2024, and stagnated compared to the first quarter of 2025.
