Minimum wage in Croatia 2026: €1,050 and how it is applied

Croatia’s minimum wage for 2026 is €1,050.00 gross a month for full-time work, valid from 1 January to 31 December 2026. The government fixed it in the Minimum Wage Decree (Uredba o visini minimalne plaće za 2026. godinu), adopted on 24 October 2025 and published in the Official Gazette as NN 132/2025. The decree in Narodne novine is one short page.

Three features of the figure matter for anyone setting pay. It is gross, before the employee’s pension contributions and income tax. It is monthly: Croatia sets no separate hourly rate in law. And it is a full-time figure, defined for the standard working week of up to 40 hours.

Part-time staff are paid pro rata. Someone contracted for 20 hours a week, half of full time, must earn at least half of €1,050, which is €525 gross a month. Contracts in Croatia must state weekly or daily hours and whether the job is full-time or part-time, so the proportion is always visible on paper.

Over a full year, twelve payments at the minimum come to €12,600 gross, and with the employer’s 16.5% health contribution the cost to the employer is €14,679. A Croatian candidate on that salary will usually ask about the meal allowance and the occasional bonuses too, because those reach the employee free of tax up to their limits; they are paid in addition to the monthly minimum, not used to reach it.

The Minimum Wage Act (Zakon o minimalnoj plaći) leaves the amount to the government, which adopts a decree each year for the following year. Two rules frame the decision. The decree must be adopted by 31 October, giving employers two months to prepare, and the new amount may not be lower than the one in force for the current year.

The proposal comes from the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, and the decree is published in Narodne novine shortly after adoption. Because the amount cannot fall, an employer can treat the current figure as a floor for the next year’s budget, though the actual increase is only known once the decree appears.

For 2027, the decree is due by 31 October 2026. Until it is published, €1,050 is the figure to apply to every payroll through December 2026. When it appears, check two things against your staff list: anyone whose gross pay would fall below the new amount, and part-time staff whose pro rata pay needs to rise with it.

A higher floor can also come from collective bargaining. A sectoral collective agreement (kolektivni ugovor) that has been extended to a whole sector can set minimum pay above the national figure, graded by the complexity of the work. If your employee’s sector has one, its rates take precedence for that job.

The government’s site (vlada.gov.hr) usually reports the decision on the day it is taken, and the Official Gazette text follows. For payroll purposes the Gazette version is the one that counts, since it carries the exact amount and the date from which it applies.

The minimum wage is compared with basic pay for normal working time. The Act lists supplements that may not be used to reach it:

• the supplement for overtime
• the supplement for difficult working conditions
• the supplement for night work
• the supplement for work on a Sunday
• the supplement for work on a public holiday

So an employee on €1,000 basic pay who works several Sundays and earns €100 in Sunday supplements has not been paid the minimum wage; their basic pay must reach €1,050 by itself, and the Sunday supplement comes on top. The Labour Act sets the Sunday supplement at no less than 50% per hour. For overtime, night and holiday work the law requires a higher wage but leaves the amount to a collective agreement, the work rules or the contract.

The definitions matter here. Night work is work between 22:00 and 06:00, and overtime is any time beyond the agreed full-time hours, which can only be ordered in writing and may not push the week past 50 hours. Put each supplement rate in writing, in the contract or the work rules, so payroll can show them as separate lines and anyone checking the payslip can see that basic pay alone meets the floor.

Two more points are fixed in the Act. Any agreement to accept less than the minimum wage is void, so an employee cannot sign the right away even if they want to. And the rule applies to every employer, whatever its size or sector.

Pay at or near the minimum wage gets special treatment in payroll. Since 1 January 2024, when monthly gross pay is between €700.01 and €1,300, the base for the employee’s pension contributions is reduced by half the difference between their pay and €1,300.

Take pay of exactly €1,050: it sits €250 under the €1,300 mark, so the base shrinks by €125. Pension contributions are then calculated on €925 and come to €185 a month, rather than the €210 they would be on the full amount. The employee keeps the €25 difference, and their future pension is still calculated on the full €1,050 because the state covers the gap. Part-timers get the cut too, and so does someone insured for only part of the month.

The employer’s side does not change. The 16.5% health contribution is charged on the whole gross amount, so the employer pays €173.25 on top of a €1,050 salary. Nothing in the low-pay rule reduces it.

There is also a floor for contributions that sits below the minimum wage. In 2026 the lowest monthly contribution base for full-time work is €757.34, which is 0.38 times the €1,993 reference average wage. Full-time pay above the minimum wage clears it easily, but it matters for unpaid or partly paid months. Company directors on an employment contract have their own, higher floor: a base of at least €1,295.45 a month. Our guide to pension and health contributions in Croatia sets out the bases and caps in full.

The minimum wage is not the only floor in Croatian employment law. Several benefits and rules set their own lower limits, and a few of them are tied to average pay rather than to the minimum.

• sick pay (naknada plaće): 70% or more of what the employee averaged across the previous half-year, and never less than €353.15 for a full month of full-time work in 2026
• parental leave pay: at least €701.89 a month for full-time workers, rising to 100% of the base subject to a cap of €3,001.79
• annual leave pay: at least the average of the employee’s pay over the previous 3 months
• severance (otpremnina): one-third of a month’s average pay or more per full year served, owed once service reaches 2 years

Average pay also decides whether a post-employment non-compete can be used at all. Under the Labour Act such a clause is void if, when signing, the employee earns less than the Croatian average wage. For someone on or near the minimum, a non-compete is therefore never an option, however the clause is worded.

Few skilled roles in Croatia are paid near the minimum. Official statistics put the national average gross wage for May 2026 at €2,178 a month, roughly double the minimum, and the median at €1,821. Half of all employees earned less than the median and half more; the best-paid tenth started at €3,409.

Pay varies by region. The City of Zagreb’s average gross pay for the second quarter of 2026 was €2,604; in Split-Dalmatia county it was €2,085. For 2025 as a whole, the national average gross was €2,016 a month, and the average net €1,449.

Seen against those figures, the €1,050 floor is under half the Zagreb average. For an employer of record client, the minimum wage is mainly a check rather than a price. It still matters in three situations: part-time contracts, where the pro rata figure can be close to the line; roles where a large share of pay comes from supplements or commission; and offers to junior staff outside the capital. In each, we check the basic pay against the current decree before the contract goes out.

Non-EU hires add a further comparison. A stay and work permit requires pay no lower than Croatian workers receive for the same or similar job, so for a permit case the relevant floor is the going rate for the role, which in most skilled jobs sits far above the national minimum.

A short routine each autumn keeps minimum-wage problems out of January payroll. It takes an hour for a small team and saves an awkward correction later, since a shortfall found in March means back pay for every month affected. Once the new decree is published:

• compare every full-time basic salary with the new monthly figure, leaving supplements out
• recalculate part-time pay in proportion to contracted hours
• check any extended sectoral collective agreement for higher minimums by job grade
• review contracts that quote a salary “at the minimum wage” so the new amount applies from 1 January
• update payroll for the pension base reduction, which changes as pay moves within €700.01 to €1,300

Remember that a change in gross pay is a change to a contract term. In Croatia the contract states gross pay and its components, so a rise that lifts someone to the new minimum should be recorded in writing, either as an annex or through the reference to the law that the contract already contains.

Through an EOR, these checks form part of the year-end payroll review. Our guide to Croatian payroll explains the rest of the calculation, and the article on onboarding a new hire shows where pay terms enter the contract. For a quote on any salary, start with Employer of Record Croatia.

Q01How much is Croatia’s statutory pay floor this year?+

A.€1,050.00 gross monthly for a full-time job, throughout calendar year 2026, set by government decree NN 132/2025.

Q02Is there an hourly minimum wage in Croatia?+

A.No. Croatia sets a monthly minimum for full-time work. Part-time employees are paid in proportion to their contracted hours.

Q03Do overtime and Sunday supplements count towards the minimum wage?+

A.No. Supplements for overtime, difficult conditions, night work, Sundays and public holidays are paid on top and cannot be used to reach the €1,050 minimum.

Q04When will the 2027 minimum wage be known?+

A.The government must adopt the decree by 31 October 2026, and the new figure cannot be lower than the 2026 amount. Check Narodne novine for the published text.

Q05Do employees on the minimum wage pay less in pension contributions?+

A.Yes. Between €700.01 and €1,300 gross a month the pension base is reduced. At €1,050 the monthly deduction falls from €210 to €185, with pension rights still based on the full salary.