The Independent Croatian Trade Unions (NHS) warned on Friday that the Croatian worker is not too expensive, but chronically underpaid. The claim about high labor costs is wrong, but also dangerous because it creates a false image that workers are hindering economic development, it writes HRT.
Eurostat data says the opposite, that the hourly wage in Croatia is 16,5 euros, while the EU average is 33,5 euros. Germany is at 43,4 euros, Austria at 44,5, Ireland at 42,5, and Belgium at even 48,2 euros. A Croatian worker is twice as cheap as the average European worker and many times cheaper than workers in developed countries. How can it be too expensive, they ask in a statement from the NHS.
The public often talks about the high percentage of wage and labor cost growth in Croatia, but, they say, percentages without context mean very little.
This is shown by an example from the second quarter of 2025, because in Austria the price of labor grew by 3,8 percent to a base of 44,5 euros, which is 1,69 euros per hour. In Croatia, the growth was 9,2 percent, but to a base of 16,5 euros, which is only 1,51 euros per hour.
It turns out that a worker in Austria with a "small" percentage gets more in absolute terms than a worker in Croatia with a "large" percentage. This is a crucial truth, because percentages do not fill wallets, the NHS points out.
They warn that workers in Croatia pay for food, fuel, and utilities at almost the same prices as their colleagues in Germany or Austria, but their salaries are half as low.
This means that Croatian workers actually live in a more expensive reality, because they have to cover almost the same living costs with lower incomes.
Employers seek savings from workers, instead of investing in modernization and new production processes
In addition, the union says, developed countries link wage growth to productivity growth, which results from investment in technology, innovation and education. Part of the employers in Croatia look for savings from the workers, instead of investing in modernization and new production processes.
The worker is being portrayed as a cost, not as the basis of any added value, the NHS warns.
It is time to start using absolute figures instead of misleading percentages, because they are the only ones that show the real difference in salary and living standards, said the trade unionists.
They believe that - if we want to keep people in the country, raise living standards and create a sustainable and competitive economy - gross wages must rise, investments in technological progress are needed, and workers must be recognized as a major resource, not a cost.
Human capital, knowledge and the effort of workers are more valuable than any profit on the balance sheet, because without workers there would be no profit! As long as we view workers as a problem, not a solution, Croatia will remain a country of cheap labor and emigration, says the NHS.
Source: HRT
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