Does It Pay to Invest in Education in Croatia?

Countries of Central and Eastern Europe experienced a rapid increase of return to education with the advent of the transition. This is well-documented for most of the countries but, until now, there were no empirical studies of the dynamics of wage premiums in post-transition Croatia. This paper, therefore, intends to fill in that gap. We look at the dynamics of wage premiums in Croatia and estimate how much the return to education has changed between 1996 and 2004 on the basis of labor force survey data. We compare these results with similar ones for selected transition countries and then we look at some possible explanations of our findings. Contrary to most transition countries, premiums for education in Croatia began to grow only at the end of the 1990's. In a way, wage adjustment in Croatia has been delayed. However, by 2004, it reached the level of premiums found in other transition countries and advanced market economies, thus creating market incentives for investment in education. We also look at additional features of the wage structure, such as non-linearities in the return to education associated with attainment of credentials and return to experience.Croatia, human capital, returns to education

Poverty and Politics on the Labour Market in Croatia

This paper compares indicators of the Croatian labor market and implemented policies with indicators and policies in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Although unemployment and long-term unemployment (which latter is particularly correlated with poverty in the transition countries) do not in Croatia depart from the range in which other transition countries are positioned, still they are above their average, which is connected with the somewhat less flexible nature of the Croatian labor market. New findings on the effects of labor market policies in the transition countries indicate that the process of the reform of the institutional framework through which in the last few years the restrictiveness of Croatian employment protection legislation has been reduced might work in the direction of reducing overall and long-term unemployment. The paper suggests that it is possible to improve the effectiveness of the application of active policy measures. Furthermore, a better compensation for a reduction in the restrictiveness of the regulations would probably be an increase in average unemployment benefits rather than an extension of their duration, while greater labor market flexibility, resulting from the reforms, should contribute to a greater coverage of unemployed persons. The expected reduction of overall and long-term unemployment under the influence of the new institutional framework, in spite of the possible emergence of low-paid and insecure jobs, might alleviate the problem of poverty, because unemployment and, especially, long-term unemployment are among the prime causes of poverty in the transition countries

Regulation and Flexibility of the Croatian Labour Market

The Croatian Labor Code was significantly reformed in 2003 as a result of extensive negotiations lasting about two years. Proponents of the reform emphasized the supposed rigidity of the labor market, resulting from restrictive employment protection legislation, as a main rationale for the reform. Critics believed that the labor market is much more flexible than often thought due to inadequate enforcement of legislation. This study aims to assess the level of labor market dynamics by constructing disaggregated indicators of job and worker flows, according to different types of enterprises and workers. Job and worker flows reveal that the overall degree of flexibility is not below that observed in other transition countries as employers learned to increasingly use flexible contracts. However, the findings confirm a strong dualism in the Croatian labor market. While labor market regulation did not significantly inhibit flexibility in the new private sector, it seems that regulation may have slowed down the process of restructuring and shedding labor in the state and newly privatized sectors. Also, as employers in the de novo private sector increasingly relied on short-term temporary contracts, it seems that incentives for engaging informal labor diminished. Therefore, the reform of regulation is likely to foster employment restructuring in state and newly privatized sectors, but cannot be expected to facilitate more flexibility in the de novo private sector.

Doprinos ukupnih tokova poslova dinamici korporativnog restrukturiranja u Hrvatskoj

Premda se nedostatak korporativnog restrukturiranja u Hrvatskoj često smatra jednom od glavnih zapreka ekonomskom rastu, malobrojni raspoloživi nalazi ne potkrjepljuju takvo viđenje. U ovom radu razmatraju se novi pokazatelji ukupnih tokova poslova kako bi se rasvijetlilo hrvatsko iskustvo s korporativnim restrukturiranjem. Ukupni tokovi poslova upućuju na zaključak da je porast zaposlenosti, koji se odnedavno bilježi u Hrvatskoj, mahom rezultat manjeg broja nestalih radnih mjesta, dok je broj novonastalih radnih mjesta u novije vrijeme samo blago porastao. Nadalje, poslovi sada više cirkuliraju između sličnih tipova poduzeća nego u 1990-ima. Zaključno, sve promotrene mjere potvrđuju da je dinamika korporativnog restrukturiranja u posljednjem desetljeću usporena u usporedbi s njezinom dinamikom tijekom 1990-ih, unatoč još uvijek razmjerno velikoj uključenosti države u gospodarstvo

Premija za obrazovanje i ulaganja u ljudski kapital u Hrvatskoj

Ulaganje u ljudski kapital u posljednje je vrijeme predmet rasprava o ekonomskoj politici kao jedan od važnih čimbenika za stvaranje suvremenih gospodarstava utemeljenih na znanju. Teorija ljudskog kapitala to ulaganje promatra kao rezultat dragovoljne odluke pojedinaca koji očekuju određeni povrat na ulaganje vremena i sredstava. U posljednjih dvadeset godina zabilježen je porast premija za obrazovanje u tržišnim gospodarstvima, što se pripisuje brzom tehnološkom razvoju, a u tranzicijskim je zemljama tijekom posljednjeg desetljeća zabilježena brza konvergencija premija na obrazovanje od egalitarnih platnih struktura prema platnim strukturama kakve postoje i u razvijenim tržišnim gospodarstvima. Za razliku od tih zemalja, premija na obrazovanje u Hrvatskoj još nije konvergirala prema premiji u naprednim tržšnim gospodarstvima. U skladu s time, Hrvatska, unatoč određenom porastu broja studenata, još uvijek zaostaje za razvijenim zemljama, a jaz je još veći uzme li se u obzir i manji broj studenata koji završe studij. Smanjenju toga zaostatka, čini se, ne pridonosi ni visoka razina ukupne potrošnje na obrazovanje, koja je u skladu s razinom izdvajanja na obrazovanje u razvijenim tržišnim gospodarstvima

Contribution of Gross Job Flows to the Dynamics of Corporate Restructuring in Croatia

While lack of corporate restructuring is often viewed as one of the major obstacles to economic growth in Croatia, the scant empirical evidence available does not corroborate this view. The paper evaluates more recent evidence based on gross job flows in order to shed more light on the Croatian experience with corporate restructuring. The findings support the view that a slowdown in corporate restructuring has been taking place during this decade. Gross job flows show that recent employment growth resulted from smaller job destruction, with job creation increasing only slightly. In addition, jobs are now being churned among enterprises that are more similar to each other than was the case in the 1990s. Therefore, all the measures used confirm that less corporate restructuring has been taking place during the last decade in comparison to 1990s, regardless of the still strong state presence in the economy

Siromaštvo i politike na tržištu rada u Hrvatskoj

U radu se uspoređuju pokazatelji hrvatskog tržišta rada i politika koje su na njemu vođene s pokazateljima i politikama drugih zemalja srednje i istočne Europe. Iako nezaposlenost i dugotrajna nezaposlenost, koja je u tranzicijskim zemljama posebno vezana uz siromaštvo, u Hrvatskoj ne izlaze iz intervala u kojemu su se pozicionirale druge tranzicijske zemlje, ipak su iznad njihova prosjeka, što je povezano s manjom fleksibilnosti hrvatskog tržišta rada. Novije spoznaje o utjecajima politika na tržištu rada u tranzicijskim zemljama pokazuju da proces reforme institucionalnog okvira kojim je proteklih godina smanjena strogost hrvatskih propisa o zaštiti zaposlenja može djelovati u pravcu smanjenja ukupne i dugotrajne nezaposlenosti. U radu se utvrđuje kako je moguće poboljšati učinkovitost primjene mjera aktivne politike. Nadalje, bolje rješenje nadoknade za smanjenje restriktivnosti propisa o zaštiti zaposlenja bilo bi povećanje iznosa naknade umjesto produljenja njezina trajanja, dok bi veća fleksibilnost tržišta rada, kojom će rezultirati reforma, trebala pridonijeti većoj pokrivenosti nezaposlenih osoba. Očekivano sniženje ukupne i dugotrajne nezaposlenosti pod utjecajem novoga institucionalnog okvira, unatoč mogućnosti nastanka slabije plaćenih i manje sigurnih radnih mjesta, moglo bi ublažiti i problem siromaštva jer je upravo nezaposlenost, a posebno dugotrajna, jedna od glavnih odrednica siromaštva u tranzicijskim zemljama