STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN CROATIA

The paper examines developments in Croatian manufacturing industry, by comparing key EU manufacturing trends and by analysing structural characteristics and the dynamics of production and production factors at national level in the period from 2008 to 2015. The comparison is based on sectoral indicators such as gross value added, labour productivity, change in the volume of production output. The analysis is conducted on manufacturing industry in general, its levels of technological sophistication and its branches. Data for industrial manufacturing are grouped into four levels of technological sophistication: high-technology, medium-high-technology, mediumlow – technology and low-technology. Research results indicate that the Croatian manufacturing industry is lagging behind European manufacturing in terms of its technology structure. Croatian manufacturing sector is being dominated by low-tech and medium low-tech industries, while their share in the EU manufacturing is significantly lower. High-technology and medium-high technology industries have been main drivers of EU’s industrial growth during the recession and postrecession period. On the contrary, in the case of Croatia manufacturing industries with lower technological intensity are recovering most successfully, while production of manufacturing industries with higher technological intensity remains below the pre-crisis level.