Croatia in the Postindustrial Age – Changes in the Structure of Economic Activities of Working Population by Gender

Abstract

In Croatian society in the past half century there has been a radical change in the structure of economic activities. After the Second World War, the phase of deagrarization began, then the phase of socialist industrialization, which had its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Since the 1970s, a massive entry of women into the labor market started, as well as the processes of tertiarization and deindustrialization, which became in the 90s the most dominant processes in changing industries. Besides the analysis of changes, the aim of this study was also to point out the relevance and timeliness of some of today's already classical theoretical concepts presented in the work of economic theorists Fisher, Clark and Rostow, on whose foundations occurs the modern concept of postindustrial society in the works of sociologists Bell, Touraine and Castells. Starting from the basic thesis of these authors as a theoretical framework, the author presents in this paper an analysis of changes in the structure of the active labor force by sector of activity and gender, based on the results of a census from 1971 to 2001. Finally, discussed in the paper are the possible factors influencing these changes as well as some of the consequences to which this process leads.