The action was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument (TSI), and implemented by the OECD, in co‑operation with the European Commission’s Reform and Investment Task Force (SG REFORM).
This report was prepared by Boglárka Dely and Christopher Prinz from the Employability Division of the OECD’s Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs (ELS) together with the consultants Jerome Bickenbach and Aleksandra Pošarac, under the supervision of Theodora Xenogiani (Head of Employability Division). Statistical assistance was provided by Dana Blumin and Carolina Fellinghauer and editorial assistance by Monica Mezza-Esid and Natalie Corry.
This report greatly benefitted from exchanges with stakeholders from Croatia throughout the project implementation period and, in particular, the exchanges held during the country visits in October 2024, April 2025 and January 2026 as well as during the study visit to Latvia in November 2025 which would not have been possible without the support of Elina Celmina, Aiga Lukašenoka and Dace Kampenusa from the Ministry of Welfare in Latvia. The OECD would like to thank several government and non-government experts from Croatia for their collaboration and feedback during the project. Thanks go to:
Ivan VIdiš, State Secretary, Zrinka Špoljarić, the main project officer, and Željka Martinović and Sanda Marković Latković from the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family, and Social Policy
Ivan Prgomet, Romana Tandara Haček, Zoran Jelić, Natalija Vičević and Bojana Dražić from the Institute for Disability Assessment, Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities
Tea Botinčan from the Professional Rehabilitation Centre in Zagreb
Dijana Vuksan from the Croatian Health Insurance Institute and Antonija Margeta and Marijana Pavlić from the Ministry of Health
Ljiljana Sladović Ninić, Mirela Novotni Draštata and Grozdana Philips from the Croatian Pension Institute
Monika Hartek and Ivana Krstanović Vinac from the Croatian Employment Service
Marija Ražnjević from the Institute for Social Welfare
Marica Miric and many other representatives affiliated to the Croatian Union of Associations of Persons with Disabilities
Vedran Krog and Tomislav Kurtanjek from Ultima Labs
The report and the project implementation would not have been possible without the continuous support, collaboration and constructive comments of the project officers from the European Commission, Micaela Mussachio Strigone and Florin Popa.
Valuable comments and feedback were provided by the delegates to the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee.