After several years of stagnation in the labour market, the lack of labour is beginning to be felt in Croatia, which results in higher salaries. However, the effect is only seen in select sectors which employ educated professionals, while many others still pay out salaries well below the national average.

According to the latest data released by the state statistics bureau, the average net salary in Croatia in February was 6,128 kuna. Compared to February 2017, the average salary rose by 4 percent in nominal terms, and 3.2 percent in real terms.

However, that amount is still above what most Croatians get. The statistic that reveals the distribution of salaries is the median salary, which determines the figure in the middle of the distribution curve, and in February it amounted to 4,975 kuna, meaning half of all the employed had a salary under that amount, with the other half above it, the Tportal website reported on Monday.

By sector, the highest average salary is in information and communication technology (ICT), who get 8,359 kuna per month on average. Salaries in the sector, which employs programmers and south after communication technology professionals, had an average salary rise of 5.8 percent year-on-year, although its overall score is brought down by salaries in publishing, where average employees get only 6,675 kuna, with salaries rising mich more slowly than in the rest of the sector.

The finance sector also has salaries above the average, but unlike the ICT sector, the salaries in banking and insurance sectors are not rising. Due to technology advances which reduced the need for employees and the lower demand for financial services, the number of employees in banking and finance sectors is decreasing, which results in lower average salaries. In insurance and pension fund management, salaries rose by 5.2 percent.

Energy industry is another sector where salaries are above average. The average salary of employees in electricity and gas supply is 7,905 kuna, up by 3.9 percent year-on-year. In mining and oil and gas extraction, the average is 7,227 kuna, but with a somewhat larger rate of growth, at 4.5 percent.

Other sectors with above-average salaries are various public services, which includes public administration, defence, social security services, institutions of science, health care, and education. Within this sector, the lowest salaries are in education, at 6,556 kuna, which goes to show how underpaid this sector is, despite the fact that the majority of people working in education have university degrees, Tportal reported.

In the sector of professional, scientific, and technical occupations, which includes a wide variety of jobs employing many sorts of young professionals, the highest salary growth was in advertising and market research, in which salaries exploded by 24.5 percent.

On the other hand, below the average salary line are 11 other sectors. The lowest salaries are in supporting services – such as security services, and building maintenance and cleaning – in hospitality services and in construction. These sectors employ people with little or no qualifications, and their salaries are well below the national average.

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