The OECD Council decided to open accession discussions with Croatia on 25 January 2022. On 10 June 2022, the Council adopted the Roadmap for the accession of Croatia to the OECD Convention [C/MIN(2022)23/FINAL] (the Roadmap) setting out the terms, conditions and process for accession to the OECD. The Roadmap provides that in order to allow the Council to take an informed decision on the accession of Croatia, Croatia will undergo in-depth reviews by the OECD technical committees listed in the Roadmap, including the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee.
The background report that follows was prepared by the OECD Secretariat to support the accession review discussion of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee with Croatia. The policy analysis presented in this report reflects the situation at the time of the accession review discussion of Croatia in the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee in October 2023. The statistical analysis presented in this report has been updated after the Committee discussion to reflect the latest data available at the time of publication.
The report was prepared by Sebastian Königs (project lead, Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5) and Sara Mouhoud (Chapters 1, 2 and 4), with statistical support provided by Dana Blumin and Jongmi Lee. Editorial assistance was provided by Hanna Varkki. Valuable comments were provided by Stefano Scarpetta, Mark Pearson, Jean-Christophe Dumont, Tim Bulman, and several other colleagues at the OECD.
The Secretariat is grateful for the insights and contributions provided by specialists from various institutions, including national authorities, the social partners, non-governmental organisations and research institutions. In particular, the Secretariat would like to thank Martina Cvitanović from the Ministry of Labour and Pension System, Family and Social Policy, who co‑ordinated the work on the review. The report benefited from comments provided by the Croatian national authorities, notably the Ministry of Labour and Pension System, Family and Social Policy and the Ministry of the Interior.
In accordance with paragraph 28 of the Roadmap and upon request of Croatia, the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee agreed to declassify this report and publish it under the authority of the Secretary-General, in order to allow a wider audience to become acquainted with its content. Publication of this document and the analysis and recommendations contained therein do not prejudge in any way the outcome of evaluations conducted as part of Croatia’s accession process to the OECD.