The fact that Croatia introduced the euro and entered the euro zone does not mean that its average salary will automatically catch up with the average in the zone, Croatian media write. This would be ideal as the average net salary in Croatia is currently €866, which is only 37% of the Eurozone average of €2,333.

Croatia performs slightly better compared to the average salary in the entire European Union, where it reaches 42 percent of the average net salary of one person in the Union (€2,080). The average Italian salary of 1,918 euros is equal to two average Croatian salaries, while the average Austrian salary can be up to three average Croatian salaries.

There are all kinds of salaries, lower and higher than the average, minimal or in the tens of thousands, as well as those that are fixed for years. Someone who had a high salary in kuna will also have a good salary in euros, and someone who barely ties money from one salary to another will continue to do the same even after switching to the euro, trying to cover as many expenses as possible with as little money as possible , which increase from month to month with the rise in food prices.

How did our incomes fall? Take for example a person whose salary has not changed in recent years

How did our incomes fall? Let’s take, for example, a person whose salary has not changed in recent years, so, for example, he earns 7,000 kuna, the same as in 2016. In October 2016, her salary was 24 percent higher than the average salary since that time (5,642 kunas). Although the average salary has increased in recent years, the difference between this 7,000 kuna and the average salary has also narrowed, so that in October 2019 the difference was only 2.7 percent, at which time the 7,000 kuna salary was below the average level.

Thus, according to the latest available statistics, the average salary in October last year was 7,745 kuna, so a person whose salary was frozen at 7,000 kuna in recent years received 9.6% less than the average salary.

If this salary of 7,000 kuna had increased from 2016 to today and at the same time kept the proportion to the average salary in 2016, when it was 24 percent higher, it would have been 9,604 kuna today. This was not the case, so this worker, who 6 years ago received an above-average salary, and who could have saved something in 2016, today fell into the lower-average paid class. Add to this current inflation and it becomes clear that savings can be wiped out as they barely cover survival.

The introduction of the euro will not change anything if it does not increase his salary

And what about a person with a salary of 5,000 kuna, who has not received a salary increase for years? In 2016, he had a salary 11.4% below the average salary since then, and today his salary of 5,000 kuna is 36% behind the average salary. If the salary had grown so much in recent years that it would have been at the level of the average salary in 2016, which is 11.4 percent lower, today it would be 6,862 kuna.

The introduction of the euro will not change anything if it does not increase his salary and free him from the “salary freeze” for years.

According to Eurostat, the average net salary of a single person in the European Union was 2,080 euros, and in the euro area – 2,333 euros, and Croatia – 866 euros – fourth from the bottom of the ranking: Hungary – 834 euros, Romania – 796 euros, Bulgaria – 606 euros.

Between 2016 and the end of last year, the average salary in Bulgaria increased by 55%, and in Croatia – by 23%.

European statistics record the highest average monthly net salary of €3,744 for a single person in Luxembourg, followed by Denmark with €3,273 and Ireland in third place with a single monthly salary of €3,142. Austria ranks seventh in the European Union with an average salary of €2,818 per person, followed by Germany with €2,737. The average net salary of a single person in Greece is 1,260 euros, in Slovenia it is 1,217 euros, and in the Czech Republic it is 1,153 euros.

In Latvia and Lithuania, average monthly net wages for singles were higher, although in 2016 wages there lagged behind Croatia’s average. Over the past six years, salaries in these two countries have increased by 56 and 63 percent, respectively.

The material was made with the support of the RADOR agency.