The government will continue to protect every job for as long as necessary, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the start of a cabinet meeting on Thursday morning, announcing further support for wages and employment.

“We will continue to protect every job for as long as necessary to weather this crisis together and to be ready and competitive when the pandemic ends,” Plenkovic said.

He said that the government was continuing implementing the measure of giving 4,000 kuna per worker in January and February to protect jobs in businesses forced to close down as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The government will support this measure with more than 500 million kuna, which will be provided through the National Employment Bureau. In consultation with the social partners, the government will also extend the measure to shorten working hours for all businesses unable to achieve maximum performance because of the present circumstances.

These measures are yet to be confirmed by the National Employment Bureau.

Plenkovic went on to say that the government would invest over 1.2 billion kuna in 2021 to boost active employment policy measures and covering over 25,000 people. Special focus will be on workforce training.

“We will make good on our promises already in the first year of our term in office , which means that as of 1 January 2021 grants for self-employment will range from HRK 55,000 to 130,000,” the prime minister said.

Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic said that the government’s active employment policy was aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the workforce and the economy in general.

According to Plenkovic, the government had so far paid out 7.7 billion kuna for private-sector wages, “for more than 600,000 workers and more than 100,000 employers.”