A total of 1.405 million Croatians were gainfully employed in December 2018, or about 0.5 percent or nearly 6,900 fewer than the month before. Meanwhile, the registered unemployment rate increased from 9.4 to 9.6 percent, the state statistics bureau said on Friday.

By economic sector, the largest monthly drop was in tourism and hospitality, posting 4.5 percent fewer employees than in November, while the largest increase, of 2.5 percent, was in construction.

At the same time, according to figures from the state employment bureau, around 149,000 job seekers were registered with the bureau at the end of December 2018, an increase of 1.4 percent from November.

Analysts say that the increase in the unemployment rate and the monthly fall in employment levels are due to seasonal trends on the local labour market, given that many Croatians work temporary jobs during the summer tourist season.

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