Ružica Matić

Ružica Matić is a Croatian journalist based in Zagreb. She works for the daily newspaper 24sata, covering many of the major showbiz stories and interviewing Croatian and international celebrities.

She also writes for the weekly magazine 24express on showbiz and cultural issues.

Matić has also worked at T-portal as a journalist and junior editor on the domestic news desk. Her main field of interest was domestic political and social issues, but she has also published articles covering important regional issues too.

She has written many articles analysing Croatia’s legislation and justice system, along with interviewing leading politicians. Matić has also worked as a researcher and screenwriter for the documentary series Ostati živ - which was nominated for a television award.

For her 2011 fellowship investigation, Matić examined age discrimination in the Croatian workplace. She discovered that not only were over 50s discriminated against in the employment market across Europe, many were unable to retire because they did not have sufficient contributions to claim a state pension.

In Macedonia, Matić found that dozens of desperate senior citizens have taken their own lives because they, like thousands more, were trapped in grinding poverty as they were unable to find jobs or retire after their contributions were pocketed by the owners of newly-privatised companies.

As well as covering her home country Croatia, Matić compared employment and retirement prospects for seniors in Macedonia, France and the UK.

Fellowship Article

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Older Workers Pay Dearly for Balkan Privatisation

Thousands of older Balkan workers are trapped in poverty as they struggle to find work but cannot retire - a fate they share with their western European counterparts. In Macedonia, dozens of desperate over 50s have been driven to commit suicide.

Diary

22 Sep 2011 / 09:55

EU Rules Benefit Croatian Jobseekers

Ruzica Matic

Since Croatia aligned its employment laws with EU regulations, the percentage of unemployed over 50s has dropped, albeit slightly.

26 Jul 2011 / 13:08

UK: The Right to Work After 65

Ružica Matić

The UK got a new law this year giving workers the right to keep their jobs after the age of 65, without having to pass medical exams proving they are physically capable of doing so.

11 Jul 2011 / 10:29

France: Land of Early Retirement

Ružica Matić

In France most people don't work after 50, and there were, until recently, age limits for some professions. Giving older workers a chance is to some extent a revolution for this country.

27 Jun 2011 / 10:49

‘They Like to Arrest People Here’

Ružica Matić

Young protesters have taken the place of desperate older laid-off workers on the streets of Skopje, a strife-ridden city flooded with monuments to its contentious past.

09 Jun 2011 / 10:58

Early retirement for the lost generation

Ružica Matić

The percentage of over 50s in Croatia unemployed population has increased eight-fold in the past 20 years. Not only that, it appears employers are forcing older workers to retire early or be fired.

Topic

Topic 2011: Justice

The topic for this year’s programme is justice and fellows are investigating subjects as diverse as privatisation, organised crime, employment law, rape convictions and extradition treaties.