In the second quarter of 2023, 1.61 million people in Croatia were in work, about 98,000 fewer than at the same time last year, while the number of the unemployed fell by 39,000 to 95,000 persons, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

The survey unemployment rate, a percentage of unemployed people in the economically active population, was 5.7%.

The DZS noted that the data for the first and second quarter of the year was based on the results of the 2021 census, while the previous data was based on the 2011 census. To ensure consistency and comparability of the data for this year with the data for previous years, revised data will be published at a later date and will be consistent with the 2021 census.

A labour force survey showed that 1.61 million people in Croatia were in work in the second quarter of 2023, which is 29,000 or 1.8% more than in the first quarter. Compared with the second quarter of 2022, the number of gainfully employed persons decreased by 98,000 persons or 5.7%.

At the same time, the number of unemployed persons fell by 29.1% on an annual basis and by 24% on a quarterly basis.

The employment rate, a share of gainfully employed persons in the working age population (15 to 64 years), was 66% in the second quarter of 2023, up by 1.4 percentage points from the previous quarter. Compared with the second quarter of 2022, the employment rate rose by 1.1 percentage point.

The unemployment rate, which stood at 5.7% in the first quarter of this year, was down by 1.7% both quarter on quarter and year on year.

In the second quarter of 2023, there were 3.26 million people of working age (aged 15 and above), of whom 1.7 million were economically active and 1.56 million were inactive.

The activity rate, a percentage of the active population in the working-age population (15 to 89 years), was 52.5% in the second quarter of 2023, the same as in the previous quarter and 0.4 percentage points lower than in the second quarter of 2022.