Croatia/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.9 Employment policies for the cultural sector

Statistics regarding employment in the cultural sector are based on a narrow definition of cultural activities which do not include cultural workers employed in non-cultural sectors. Within independent artistic professions, statistics recognise only artists in the traditional sense (i.e. actors, musicians, painters, etc.) but not other professions (such as designers or others employed mostly in small businesses). The new classification of activities from 2007 enables a more detailed analysis of employment in cultural activities; recent data shows that in 2000-2008 employment in legal entities in selected activities increased by 32.3% from 17 613 to 23 309 - with the greatest increase in publishing activities (43.5%) and the lowest in creative, artistic and entertainment activities (11.4%) (Jurlin, 2010: 141) see chapter 9.1.

According to the Cultural Development Strategy of Croatia (2002), employment in the cultural sector follows some of the general trends observed in many other European countries, primarily regarding more flexible employment with all the benefits and challenges that it brings. The biggest percentage of those employed in the cultural sector is financed from public funds (state or municipal and local level).

There is no specific policy or campaign in this field, only some general and indirect measures through taxation and social policies (see chapter 5.1.4 and chapter 5.1.5).

The salary levels of employees working in public cultural institutions can be compared with others employed in the public sector. The statistics do not show the differences in remuneration between single self-employed persons and large cultural institutions like the national and university library or the national theatre. The data available only shows the average wages and salaries and are not broken down according to the earnings of subgroups.

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