In 2000, the employment rate in the EU was 62.2% against 63.4% in 2005.
The employment rate among women was 57.2% last year against 53.7% in 2000 and 56% in 2005. In Croatia last year, the employment rate among women was 49.4%.
In the 55-64 age group, the employment rate in the EU last year was 43.5% against 36.9% in 2000 and 42.2% in 2005, whereas in Croatia last year it was 34.3%.
With 77.4%, Denmark has the highest employment rate among EU countries in the 15-64 age group, whereas Poland has the lowest - 54.5%.
The average working week of those permanently employed in the EU last year was 40.5 hours against 41.4 hours in Croatia (the same as in Slovenia). Austria and Great Britain have the longest working week (42.4 hours each), while the Netherlands has the shortest (38.9 hours).
The unemployment rate in Croatia in June this year was 14.3%, the State Bureau of Statistics said today, adding that this was the lowest unemployment rate in the last dozen years.
In May, the unemployment rate was 15.1%, down from 15.9% in April and 16.6% in March. On the annual level, the unemployment rate in June was down 1.7 percentage points.
At the end of June, a total of 249,548 people were registered as jobless with the Croatian Employment Bureau, down 5.2% from May this year and 9.1% from June 2006.