Between 2009 and 2016 average monthly salary in Croatia kept falling by roughly 1 percent every year. However, in 2017 the trend reversed, with nominal average salary rising by 5 percent, or 3.5 percent in real terms, RTL television reported on Thursday.

Average monthly net salary rose by 3.2 percent year-on-year, to 6,128 kuna (€827) in February, and according to state statistics bureau data the best paid sector is IT services, with an average net salary of 10,144 kuna (€1,369). The lowest average net salary is in leather manufacturing, at 3,940 kuna (€532).

Analysts at the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) said salaries are likely to continue growing, as employers increasingly have to compete to attract the dwindling workforce available in the country.

Another effect of the population drain is that in spite of Croatia still lagging behind other EU nations in terms of purchasing power, the contribution of remittances sent home by Croatians working abroad is being increasingly felt in the country’s economy.

Businessman Nenad Bakic said workers have become Croatia’s best export, as the salaries they earn abroad total of €2 billion, about half of which returns back into Croatia in some form.

“This means that remittances from our people wortking abroad are double the amount of direct foreign investments which enable new businesses, create jobs, allow for salaries to rise, and thus work to keep people from leaving the country. Nobody wants to invest, so as a result, people must go abroad to look for better jobs and better lives,” Bakic told RTL.