At the end of July 2022 there were 109,571 Croatians registered with the state employment service, state news agency Hina said on Wednesday citing publicly available data, adding that this is the first time in five months that the number of unemployed people has increased, inching up 3.6 percent from June, but still 13.0 percent down year-on-year.

Hina added that on Wednesday, ten days since the end of July, there were 110,465 people registered with HZZ, indicating that unemployment continued to increase in August, with 894 more people registered than at the end of July. There are currently 16,129 vacancies advertised with HZZ.

The number of jobseekers is still lower than last year, with 16,435 fewer people registered with the HZZ than in July 2021, a drop of 13.0 percent. Hina did not offer any explanation for the drop.

In July, 22,007 or 20.1 percent, of all registered jobseekers claimed unemployment benefits. Compared with July 2021, that is a decrease of 10.8 percent.