The average net wage earned in Croatia in September amounted to HRK 7,108 (€948), and over the period of one year, the average take-home pay has risen by 361 kuna (€48), however, the latest monthly average pay decreased by 10 kuna (€1.3) on the month, the Večernji List daily reported on Sunday.

According to DZS data, the median net pay in September was HRK 6,017, which means that half of the people employed earned wages below that amount and half earned wages above that amount.

Also, an estimated 136,000 workers, that is 10% of all employees in the legal entities, earned less than 3,854 kuna (€514), reported the daily newspaper.

Rise in wages in the IT and hospitality sectors

Broken down by the sectors, the biggest rise (+9%) in the average monthly salaries over the last year was seen in the IT sector and the tourism and hospitality industry.

 In the public sector, salaries in the healthcare sector increased 6.5%. The daily reports that the average monthly wage in Croatian hospitals is HRK 9,600 (€1,280).

In the social welfare sector, the average monthly wage is HRK 6,100, and in primary schools, HRK 7,800, while the average monthly wage for employees in secondary schools is HRK 7,900, and the average salary paid by universities is HRK 11,000.

The average net salary in the state administration is below HRK 8,200.

The average wage in the manufacturing sector has risen by about hundred kuna to HRK 6,572.

Low tax ethics

A survey conducted by researchers Josip Franić and Stanislaw Cichocki show that one in four employees in Croatia (27%) actually receive higher amounts of monthly wage than the salary reported to the relevant institutions.

The survey conducted in September 2019 shows that every one in seven employees in the European Union has nothing against cheating in reporting a lower tax base so that they can get actually a higher monthly pay off-the-books.

“One in seven fully declared EU workers would have nothing against receiving one part of their wages off-the-books,” according to the research.

For instance, in Croatia, 17.6% of the respondents said they had nothing against receiving one part of their wages off-the-books, and in the Netherlands, this percentage stood at 25%, whereas Portugal had the lowest number of workers who are willing to opt for wage under-reporting.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)