A rise in the number of Croatians out of work is the price Croatia is paying as since 2008, when the crisis started, the country has failed to carry out structural reforms, Labour Minister Mirando Mrsic said on Monday.
According to the latest figures updated by the National Employment Service (HZZ), there are currently 300,826 jobless people, with the number of the unemployed having again passed the mark of 300,000.
The number of the unemployed people is rising as every day more jobs are shed than the number of newly created jobs. For instance in June and July the number of those who got jobs was higher than in the corresponding period last year, but that was not enough to improve the situation, Mrsic, who was inaugurated as the labour minister in late December 2011, told reporters before a new round of reconciliation with four public-sector trade unions.
Mrsic projected the continuation of rising joblessness in the coming months to reach its peak in February or March next year. I hope that after that we will start reducing the number of jobless people through an intensified economic growth and job creation, he added.
