CROATIA TO USHER IN LABOUR DAY WITH 358,000 UNEMPLOYED

ZAGREB, April 28 (Hina) - Croatia ushers in Labour Day with an increasingly pronounced unemployment problem. The total number of the unemployed in this year's first three months has risen by another 16,000, reaching a record 357,711 by the end of March, which is 12.4 percent or 40,000 more than in the same period last year. The unemployment rate has almost reached 22 percent, while announcements of companies to file for bankruptcy, and the latest ones of very "heavy cuts (in the far too expensive state administration) numbering dozens of thousands of people," will up the unemployment rate even more. The number of employed people, on the other hand, has dropped below 1.3 million. According to data for February, Croatia has a little over 958,000 pension beneficiaries, which shows that the number of pensioners and the unemployed has considerably surpassed the entire number of the employed. About 28 percent, or 99,600 among the entire figure of the unemployed are people looking for their first job, while more than 72 percent, namely 258,000, have previous work experience. All Croatian counties are registering an increasing unemployment rate, with Split-Dalmatia County leading with almost 47,000 unemployed people. The City of Zagreb follows with 43,000 unemployed. (hina) ha mm