Aladrović: Aid measures are going month by month, in June regulation of shortened working hours

Minister of Labor Josip Aladrović said on Sunday that up to 100,000 workers will be able to use funds prescribed by aid measures for job preservation in July, measures will now be decided month by month, and he expects that shortened working hours will be regulated in June.

– We decided to make decisions month by month to continuously monitor the situation. When we talk about financial impact, we are talking about an amount of up to 400 million kuna for June that will be used in July – said Minister of Labor and Pension System Josip Aladrović in an interview for Nova TV and added that this will not affect the budget.

– In a way, we overestimated the number of users in April and May. We expect there to be somewhat fewer users as the economy began to open up in May, so we will be able to finance this measure from the internal reserves of the Croatian Employment Service – explained Minister Aladrović.

He emphasized that labor market movements are monitored daily and added that if necessary, the amount of aid to the economy will be increased.

– If the assessment is such that we need to help the economy to preserve it, especially in the most critical sectors, yes, there will be supplements – said Aladrović.

He does not expect a massive influx of new unemployed individuals to the job market, and announced a measure for shortened working hours that should be agreed upon with social partners in June.

– We monitor what is happening on the job market every day. What we will do in the next period, besides this measure, is that we opened the topic of shortened working hours at the last session of the Economic-Social Council. This could be very interesting for employers in the manufacturing and food industries – he said.

He responded that, regardless of the fact that a technical government is in power, regulations can be adopted that will ‘correct the process of shortening working hours’.

– In fact, next week we will start discussions with unions and employers and I expect that we will regulate this measure in June – revealed Aladrović.

In principle, the employer would pay part of the working hours, while the other part would be covered by the state, thus preventing a reduction in wages. Money for such measures is provided by the SURE program of the European Commission, and Croatia should receive 400 million euros, he said.

This program should be presented by the EC next week, Aladrović announced, responding that it is a loan and that the speed of obtaining this money will be sufficient to influence the economy.

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