At the end of July 2020, there were 151,433 unemployed persons in Croatia, an increase by 0.5% on the month and by 32.4% on the year, the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) said on Monday.

In July, after two months of decrease, the number of persons unemployed again increased on the month, by 782 persons.

Daily data by the HZZ indicates that unemployment also continued to grow at the beginning of August and at the moment there are 153,387 jobless, or 1,954 more than at the end of July. There are 8,502 vacant jobs advertised.

On the year, the increase in the number of persons unemployed slowed down slightly, after it was 35.5% y-o-y in May and 34.3% y-o-y in June, to 32.4% in July, with 37,044 more people registering with the employment service than in July 2019.

The number claiming dole in July this year was 37,679 or 24.9% unemployed persons. On the year, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits went up by 58.9%.