Croatia ended last year with an employment growth rate unseen for many years. At 3.8% growth, Croatia was behind only Malta and Estonia.

Annual growth of employment in the EU was 1.5%, or 1.6% for the Euro-zone. Croatia is usually compared to Slovenia, where employment went 2.7% up, and Hungary, where it grew by 1.9%. Analysts note that, apart from a low base and methodology, the main explanation for this increase could lay in general recovery which finally started spilling over into employment. In Croatia, this is primarily due to tourism, but other sectors are also looking for workers. Croatian Employment Bureau information shows that in the first two months of 2018 the employers were looking for 50,211 workers, but managed to find only 24,594 at the Bureau.