An estimated 52,000 employed Croatians receive the minimum wage, and roughly 20,000 of them are workers in the wood-processing, leather and textile industry, the Vecernji List daily reported on Saturday.

In terms of the minimum wage for January 2022, Croatia ranked 21st, with €624, on the list of the 27 EU member-states. The other four countries at the bottom of the ranking were Hungary (€542), Romania (€515), Latvia (€500) and Bulgaria (€332).

In 2022, the minimum wage was raised from HRK 3,400 to the net monthly amount of HRK 3,750 and the gross amount of 4,700, the daily newspaper recalled. In late October 2021, the parliament amended the Minimum Wage Act by majority vote whereby the gross minimum wage was raised to HRK 4,687 from HRK 4,250. As of this year, employers will have to contract the minimum wage with employees in the gross amount.

The daily newspaper says that in December 2021, one in ten employees got the take-home pay in the amount of HRK 3,915, or his or her gross wage was below HRK 4,772. Slightly over 1.57 million people in Croatia were in employment in December 2021, according to the data provided by the national statistical office, which means that 3.3% of them were on the minimum wage (HRK 3,750).

In December, the average take home wage was HRK 7,333 (€978), and in 2022, this monthly average is expected to finally exceed 1,000 euros.

In 2022, the minimum wage will for the first time exceed 50% of the average wage, while five years ago it was equivalent to a mere 38% of the average monthly salary.