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1. Youth employment measures

2. Flexicurity measures focusing on young people

3. Reconciliation of private and working life for young people

4. Funding of existing schemes/initiatives

5. Quality assurance

Youth employment measures

Act on Employment Mediation and Unemployment Rights in Article 34 stipulates that the Government of the Republic of Croatia designates the action plans for employment, and the Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy governs the committee responsible for these policies.

Active labour market measures are within the jurisdiction of the Croatian Employment Service (CES), covers another seven programmes that facilitate the inclusion of youth into the labour market:

1. Public works based on socially useful work initiated by the local community or civil society organizations;
2. Employment subsidies (for youth between 15 and 24 years): the CES awards a monthly lump sum amount of support, regardless of the actual cost of the employer, in accordance with the level of education and the possibility of using tax benefits for the co-financed person. Amounts of support may be increased or decreased during the co-financing period involving the co-financing of  minimum 40% costs of monthly lump sum, or minimum 65% for persons with disabilities;
3. Employment subsidies - green/digital (for youth between 15 and 24 years): the CES awards a monthly lump sum amount of support, regardless of the actual cost of the employer, in accordance with the level of education and the possibility of using tax benefits for the co-financed person. Amounts of support may be increased or decreased during the co-financing period. For employers who meet the criteria of a green or digital work, and in accordance with the definition of green and digital works defined by the Glossary, the amounts of support are minimum of 45% cost, or minimum of 70% for persons with disabilities;
4. Permanent seasonal worker: measure aimed to financially support workers who are employed only during the season, and the second part of the year they are not employed.  Employer is financed with 100% of the expense of extended insurance for the first 3 months, and in the next period lasting for no more than 3 months 50% of the extended insurance.
5. Apprenticeship grants: the aim of the measure is to enable persons to work independently by encouraging the employment of persons by co-financing the cost of their annual gross I wage and other costs to employers prescribed by this measure. The CES awards a monthly lump sum amount of support, regardless of the actual cost of the employer, in accordance with the level of education and the possibility of using tax benefits for the co-financed person involving minimum of 50% to maximum of 58%.
6. Apprenticeship grants – green/digital: the aim of the measure is same as above-mentioned with the emphasis on criteria of green or digital work, accordance with the definition of green and digital works defined by the Glossary. The minimum amounts of support are 60% with maximum of 70%.
7. Apprenticeship grants – public services: the aim of the measure is encouraging the employment of persons who do not have more than 6 months of registered insurance experience in certain public services. The measure finances 100% of the amount according to the apprenticeship amount of the annual I wage, which is 85% of the amount of the annual I wage of the workplace, also and finances the costs of transport to the workplace.

The Croatian Employment Service offers supporting measures for youth via the youth centres, where job recruitment specialists are trained for effective communication with young people, group work and workshops for young people. Youth centres offer counselling and support in job search; active job seeking workshops; employment mediation; access to computers and portals to database of vacancies; publishing of the curriculum vitae on the portal called ”job market” [Burza Rada]; thematic lectures on important topics related to employment and information on active employment policies.

Flexicurity measures focusing on young people

Regulations enabling labour market flexibility are introduced by the Labour Act of 2014 (OG 93/14, 127/17, 98/19), whereat young workers are not specifically targeted by the legislative framework. However, young workers are the ones who use the most flexible forms of employment, mostly through the Agency for Temporary Employment.

Security provisions for young employees and young job-seekers

Measures that facilitate an inter-employment period or mobility between employments are ensured through the Youth Guarantee and imply obtaining a quality offer within 4 months of leaving or ending education, or entering unemployment, regardless of whether a person is registered with CES or not.

Pre-qualification within the Croatian Employment Service and access to lifelong career guidance centres are the main mechanisms that facilitate job finding for young people. These centres, in addition to information on potential employment and employment programmes, offer the possibility to use tools for self-informing and assessment of competencies, educational opportunities, the labour market trends and knowledge base. The centres also provide individual and group information, presentations and workshops.

Reconciliation of private and working life for young people

Parental leave is the main tool for facilitating the reconciliation of private and working life of young people. Parental leave can be used up to 12 months after the birth of the child for the first and second child and up to the third year of the child's life for the third child.

Part-time work is provided to parents of children with developmental difficulties. Outside this framework, part-time work is seldom used and depends on the agreement between the employer and the employee.

Working from home as a flexible form of engagement also depends on the agreement between the employer and the employee and is used only to a lesser extent.

There are no incentives or measures for the inclusion and retention of young women in the labour market.

Funding of existing schemes/initiatives

Financing of the employment measures come either from the national budget or through European programmes, such as the European Social Fund. The main body responsible for administering the financing of employment measures is The Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, and the main provider through which the money is allocated to the beneficiaries of the measure is the je Croatian Employment Service.

For the year 2022, HRK 1,021,725,800.00  is foreseen for employment measures. Sources of funding are the state budget, the European Social Fund plus (ESF +) and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Quality assurance

Mechanisms and indicators used to measure the quality of employment programmes relate to the number of beneficiaries by certain characteristics (age, gender, profession, educational status, work experience, type and size of company, and the like). Based on the above-mentioned characteristics, monthly and annual statistics are produced, which are monitored through the Croatian Employment Service (CES) publication. If necessary, the CES, on the basis of the implementation of measures, adjusts the conditions for the implementation of measures in a particular year.

The Council for the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan was established to monitor the implementation of the Youth Guarantee (YG) measures. The Council adopts annual reports on the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, based on which it provides recommendations for further implementation. The number of beneficiaries included in a particular YG measure, the moment of entry/exit from the measure, as well as the situation upon exiting the individual measure (whether the person has returned to unemployment or remained in the labour market/education). There are also Annual Reports on the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan Implementation.

The Croatian Employment Service contracted the Evaluation of participant, mentor and employer experiences of the measure “the Occupational training without commencing employment”, which was conducted by The Institute of Public Finance in 2016.