Segmentation of the Labour Market and Employee Rights in Croatia

Non-Standard Employment in Europe

“…However, even during this relatively successful period, the employment rate was still well below the Lisbon targets. While the 2000s brought some general improvements in labour market performance, several authors identified acute vulnerabilities and an insider-outsider division akin to the labour market segmentation present in Mediterranean countries (Franičević, 2008;Matković, 2010;Račić, Babić, and Podrug, 2005).…”

“…Thus, flexibilization started in the second half of the 1990s. Dismissal procedures, advance notice periods, and severance payments for lay-offs of permanent employees were perceived as high by employers, and this contributed to the facilitation of the use of fixed-term contracts (Račić et al, 2005). After long negotiations, composite EPL decreased from 3.6 to 2.8 following the Labour Act reform of 2003.…”

“…On the legislative level, labour relations inherited from the communist period were reformed rather late in the transition. For example, the Labour Act that introduced the legal framework for the flexible use of labour only came into effect in 1996 (Račić et al, 2005). The new law modelled employment relations after the German model and introduced a high level of employment protection for the core workforce but quite flexible regulation (2.3) for the until then small percentage of fixed-term employment (see Matković and Biondić, 2003).…”

Welfare and Democratization – Comparing Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia

“…The labour market was liberalized without a consensus with the trade unions (Račić et al . ), while passive and active labour market policies, although more generous than in the other two states, were used restrictively. Nevertheless, this did not seem to initiate too much debate, possibly because of the improved labour market dynamics.…”

“…Nevertheless, despite wide coverage of health insurance, healthcare has not been equally available to all, leaving vulnerable categories particularly negatively affected (MZSS 2011). The labour market was liberalized without a consensus with the trade unions (Račić et al 2005), while passive and active labour market policies, although more generous than in the other two states, were used restrictively. Nevertheless, this did not seem to initiate too much debate, possibly because of the improved labour market dynamics.…”