"At the end of April, 118,922 job-seekers were registered with the state employment bureau, a drop of 5.3 percent month-on-month, and of 20.0 percent year-on-year," state agency Hina said on Wednesday, without explaining the reasons for the drop.

April was the third consecutive month to see a month-on-month decline in the number of job-seekers, and compared to March, there were 6,682 fewer jobless Croatians on the books. Because of the seasonality of Croatia’s largely tourism-dependent economy, the decline is expected to continue well into May.

However, the massive year-on-year falls seen for some time are usually reported with no explanation.

At the same time, the state employment bureau currently has 23,024 vacancies on offer. Year-on-year, the number of registered job-seekers is down by 29,822.

In April, 21,994 persons or 18.5 percent of unemployed Croatians used benefits. The number of beneficiaries was down from April 2021 by 16.4 percent, with 4,315 fewer persons on the dole.