At the end of December 2020 there were 1.53 million employed persons in Croatia, which is 0.2% more than in November that year but 2.2% less than at the end of December 2019, while the registered unemployment rate stood at 9.5%, show data from the national statistical office (DZS).

Legal entities in December employed 1,324,502 persons, which is 0.3% or 4,335 more persons than in the previous month but 2.4% down from December 2019.

More detailed statistics on the number of employed persons in legal entities show a monthly increase in six activities, with the highest, of 5.5%, having been reported in the ICT sector, which in December 2020 employed 47,947 people.

The construction sector saw a 2.4% monthly increase in the number of employees, to 101,174.

The number of employees dropped the most on the month in the hospitality sector, by 3% to 65,947.

Year-on-year, most sectors saw a drop in the number of employees, with tourism and catering reporting the largest declines, with legal entities that provide accommodation and prepare and serve food reporting the biggest annual drop, of 21.7%.

Only six activities in December 2020 employed more workers than in December 2019, and the ICT sector saw the biggest increase, of 8.3%.

In December 2020 there were 183,981 free-lancers and employees in small businesses, which is a 0.9% drop from November 2020 and a 1.4% drop from December 2019.

According to statistics the DZS takes over from the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ), at the end of December 2020, 159,845 people were registered with the HZZ, which is 28,092 or 21.3% more jobseekers than in December 2019.

The number of jobseekers grew also on the month, by 2.1% (3,295) from November.

The registered unemployment rate in December was 9.5%, 0.2 pp up from November.