Most of the Croat economy is based on tourism (over 60% of the GDP ). Other prominent sectors include the industry and manufacturing sectors, e.g. industrial such as chemicals, plastics, machine tools, fabricated metal, electronics, steel products, and aluminium.
Croatian employers are usually happy to work with foreigners, but they have to justify why you would be more apt than a national applicant. Another complication is the yearly quotas on work permits, currently standing at 7,000 (2010). These are further limited by category, e.g. there is a quota for construction, shipbuilding, tourism and hospitality, culture, traffic, healthcare, science and education, manufacturing, and agriculture. Once the quota has been filled, it is not possible to hire any more foreigners in that category until the following year.
On top of this, most jobs require knowledge of the Croatian language. Although some foreign companies may offer jobs which only require English, your chances of finding a job in Croatia will greatly improve if you can get by in the local language. This is partly because many people speak English and/or German today, making competition tough.
To sum it up, getting a job as a foreigner in Croatia is everything but easy. That said, there are job options if you are persistent and have a lot of patience.