There were 159,845 jobless people registered with the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) at the end of December, or 28,092, that is 21.3%, more than in December 2019, HZZ data shows.

Unemployment increased on the month too with 3,295 more people out of work or 2.1% compared to November 2020.

Daily data indicates that unemployment is continuing to increase in January 2021 too and currently there are 161,768 people registered as unemployed which is 1,923 more than at the end of December.

HZZ currently has 5,459 vacancies advertised.

Unemployment continued to increase by more than 20% on the year in December but it slowed down to 21.3% compared to 21.9% registered in November y-o-y.

22.1% of jobless persons receive unemployment benefits in December

According to HZZ data in December 2020, there were 35,388 people on the dole, or 22.1% of all those unemployed,  or 59 more people (0.2%) y-o-y.

HZZ continued implementing job-retention measures in December for those businesses affected by the COVID pandemic however, eligibility criteria was changed. The number of workers who received job-retention grants in December amounted to 96,179  persons hired by 25,493 employers, HZZ reported.