ZAGREB, 23 Sept (Hina) - At the end of August, there were 1.5 million employees in legal entities in Croatia, down 0.1% from the end of July and unchanged from the same month last year, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported.

For the first time, the sector with the largest number of employees was wholesale and retail trade, including motor vehicle and motorcycle repair.

In August, total employment in Croatia reached 1,768,981, a decline of 0.1% from July. On an annual basis, employment rose by 0.3%. Within legal entities, there were 1,513,908 employees, a decrease of 0.1% from the previous month, while employment from January to August 2025 was up 0.9% compared with the same period in 2024.

According to DZS data derived from the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO), 236,949 people were employed in trades and self-employed professions at the end of August, down 0.5% from July but up 2.3% year on year. The number of insured agricultural workers was 18,124, down 0.3% from the previous month but up 1.6% compared with August 2024.

Among the 19 sectors for which the DZS publishes detailed statistics, nine recorded annual growth in employment. Education saw the highest increase, up 6.9% to 127,620 employees. Employment in healthcare and social care rose by 3.2% to 113,771, in public administration and defence by 1.4% to 115,428, in transport and storage by 1.2% to 85,941, and in real estate activities by 1.1% to 10,722.

By contrast, nine sectors saw declines, led by agriculture, forestry and fishing (-4.6%) with 25,534 employees, followed by manufacturing, which fell by 3.4% to 228,716, losing its position as the sector with the largest workforce. Other notable declines were recorded in professional, scientific and technical activities (-2.5%), administrative and support services (-2.1%), other services (-1.9%), hospitality and tourism (-1.6%), and mining and quarrying (-1.3%).

Wholesale and retail trade, including motor vehicle and motorcycle repair, employed 229,944 people in August, surpassing manufacturing for the first time. Employment in trade rose by 0.2% compared with July and remained unchanged from August 2024. The DZS confirmed that for the past 25 years, manufacturing had always employed more people than trade, until August 2025.

The DZS noted that data from January 2000 onwards follow the 2007 National Classification of Activities and that 2025 figures are provisional. HZMO records show that trade first surpassed manufacturing in May 2024 and again in May 2025, with 257,448 insured in trade compared with 250,684 in manufacturing. By the end of August 2025, HZMO reported 248,752 insured in manufacturing and 243,258 in trade.

On a monthly basis, the largest employment growth in August was in hospitality and tourism (+3.3%), followed by real estate (+1.8%). Six other sectors saw smaller increases below one per cent, while education was the only sector with a decline exceeding one per cent (-2.7%).

Registered unemployment rose slightly to 75,495 at the end of August, an increase of 2,312 or 3.2% compared with July. The registered unemployment rate was 4.1%, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. On an annual basis, unemployment fell by 14.2%.