Labour Minister Marko Pavic said on Tuesday that the government will spend 2.5 billion kuna on various employment programmes this year, adding that the amount is larger than what any other previous government had spent for the same purpose.

“Never in the history of Croatia has more money been allocated for employment, because this year we are investing 2.5 billion (€337 million) kuna in employment programmes, including 1.6 billion kuna (€216 million) for active policy measures, and 900 million kuna (€121 million) for specialised programmes,” Pavic said in the southern city of Split, where he presented the government’s active employment policy measures to local employers.

“Croatia has invested more than 4.5 billion kuna (€607 million) in employment programmes over the last two years, which is now producing results,” Pavic said.

“Unemployment is at a record low, with some 134,000 people currently out of work, while employment is growing, so that there are now 71,000 more employed people than last year,” Pavic said.

He added that the current unemployment rate in Croatia was 8.6 percent, compared to the EU average rate of 7.1 percent.

Pavic said that there were a lot of job opportunities in Croatia, but added that “the biggest problem in Croatia is to find qualified labour.” He also said that he is pleased to see that average wages are growing, as well as wages in the tourism and construction sectors.

(€1 = 7.41 kuna)

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