When asked by the press if he was pleased with the employment measures given that the number of the unemployed was rising and could reach 350,000 by the New Year, Mrsic said that over 200,000 jobs had been lost since 2008 and that every day more jobs were lost than created. He added that the fact that this year more people had been hired through the National Employment Service (HZZ) than last year was not enough to reduce the negative trend due to bankruptcies and job losses, which resulted in the rise in unemployment.

The number of the unemployed will continue to grow as a result of the crisis and because certain companies were not restructured in 2008 as they should have been, but instead we continued borrowing and losing jobs, Mrsic said, noting that the only real way out of unemployment was investment and fresh capital. He predicted that initial changes for the better would be seen in the second half of next year when "more jobs will be created than lost," but unemployment would still not fall substantially because it would take at least another six months for that trend to stabilise.

The head of the Croatian Employers' Association, Ivica Mudrinic, said on Monday that the issue of labour legislation should be addressed as soon as possible and brought into accord with the present situation "without depriving workers of their rights, but create conditions that will enable employment."

Commenting on the number of the unemployed and the effects of the government's employment measures, Mudrinic welcomed the government's investment plans.