November the 22nd, 2023 – More interesting numbers have emerged regarding the domestic labour force. More than 30,000 Croats over 65 are still working in some way or another.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croats over 65 make up less than two percent of all employees across Croatia. However, there are twice as many as there were three years ago. Most of them work while drawing a pension, but there are more and more people who don’t meet the proper requirements and therefore can’t yet consider retirement. The state rewards them for this choice with up to a 27 percent higher pension, according to Mirovina/Pension.
Currently, as many as 30,199 workers are Croats over 65. This represents a share of only 1.8 percent of the total domestic labour force, which seems insignificant at first glance, but as stated – it’s still twice as much as three years ago. The ratio of employed men and women over the age of 65 is two to one.
A significant number of Croats over 65 aren’t thinking of retiring
Among the more than 30,199 workers who are Croats over 65, a significant number are those who work half-time or full-time, and their pension payments are currently suspended. There were 28,165 such pensioners who were working up to half the working time back in September this year. A number of pensioners who work up to half of their working time are younger than 65 years old, meaning that they’ve been able to draw an early family pension or one of the pensions drawn according to special regulations which can be drawn earlier.
The statistics of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (when looked at by age group) don’t show whether Croats over 65 work full-time or part-time. It also doesn’t show whether they work under fixed- or indefinite-term contracts. From the data we can see, we can only manage to garner a small amount of information about the economic activities in which Croats over 65 work, as well as whether they’ve actually retired or haven’t yet left the world of work.
five years more work means a 27% higher pension
The largest number of workers who are Croats over 65, more than 4,500 of them to be precise, are employed in professional, scientific and technical activities. There are more than 4,300 jobs in the trade sector, while the processing industry comes in third place with 3,326 such workers. Then come several industries; transportation, tourism, administrative and auxiliary service activities, followed by healthcare and social care.
All those who continue to work after reaching the conditions which allow them to draw a pension will be rewarded for it in time. For each month of extended employment after the age of 65, and for women it’s even earlier (women in Croatia can currently retire when they reach 63 years and 3 months old), the starting factor increases by 0.45 percent. For a maximum of five years, this brings in a monthly pension which is 27 percent higher. In order to be entitled to this bonus, however, the person drawing their pension must also have at least 35 years of effective service under their belt.
