In January 2024, 1.64 million people were employed in Croatia. This is around 1.1% less than in the previous month, but 3.1% more than at the same time last year, according to figures from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

According to DZS data, 1,636,325 people were employed in Croatia in January 2024, which is 17,453 people or 1.1% fewer than in the previous month. On an annualised basis, the total number of people in employment rose by 3.1%.

A total of 1,419,668 people were employed in legal entities, which is 15,748 people or 1.1% less than in the previous month. Compared to January last year, the number of people employed in legal entities rose by three per cent.

According to data extracted by the DZS from the records of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute, 198,338 people were employed in commercial and liberal professions at the end of January, which is 1,654 people or 0.8% less than in the previous month. For the year as a whole, the number of people employed in the trades and liberal professions rose by 4.5%.

More detailed statistics on the number of people employed in legal entities show that at monthly level, the only noticeable decline in the number of people employed was in the accommodation, food preparation and catering sector, i.e. hotels, restaurants and tourism, which fell by 10.8% to 81,897 people.

The highest number of employees, 231,998, was counted in the manufacturing industry, which corresponds to a decrease of 0.7% compared to the previous month, while the number of employees increased by 1.3% on an annualised basis.

The rate of registered unemployment was 6.8% in January, 0.3 percentage points higher than in the previous month, according to DZS data.