A total of 334,351 people were registered as unemployed with the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) in late January, which was 0.01 percent less or 27 fewer unemployed than in January 2011, and six percent or 18,913 more unemployed than in December 2011, the HZZ said on Friday.
Unemployment has been declining year-on-year for the fifth consecutive month - in September it dropped 2 percent, in October 3.5 percent, in November 3.3 percent, in December 1.4 percent, and in January 0.01 percent. At the same time, the number of unemployed people has been growing for the fourth consecutive month since October, which is due to seasonal changes on the labour market.
In January, there were 36,726 new entries in the HZZ register of jobless people, which is 20.1 percent more than in January 2011 and 15.9 percent more than in December 2011. Of that number, 24,071 people were laid-off workers.
In the same month, a total of 17,813 people were removed from unemployed registers, which is 11 percent more than in January 2011. Of that number, 8,737 were removed from the unemployed registers after they found employment.
