A total of 162,386 unemployed persons were registered with the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) at the end of February 2021, down by 1.8% from the previous month and up by 17.7% compared with February 2020, the HZZ said on Wednesday.

HZZ records show that there were 2,959 fewer unemployed people at the end of February than at the end of January 2021.

Daily figures, available on the HZZ website, show that unemployment continued to decrease in March and currently there are 158,438 unemployed persons registered with the HZZ, which is 3,948 fewer jobseekers than at the end of February. Currently, there are 17,982 job vacancies advertised.

The number of jobseekers is continuing to slow down on an annual level. After decelerating on the annual level in December 2020 to 21.3%, in January 2021 the unemployment growth rate fell under 20%, to 18.2%, and to 17.7% in February.

At the end of February this year there were 24,409 more jobless than at the end of February 2020.

A total of 33,277 jobless or 20.5% of the total number of unemployed persons were receiving the dole. The number of dole beneficiaries decreased by 11.4% or 4,289 people on the year.

HZZ continued with job-keeping measures in February for those sectors affected by the coronavirus crisis. A total of 127,278 people employed by 32,276 businesses were eligible for job-keeping measures in February, according to HZZ figures.