ZAGREB, April 19, 2018 - Labour and Pension System Minister Marko Pavić said on Thursday that a significant number of import labour quotas for third countries had not been used and underscored that this showed that the government's active employment policy measures had enabled employers to settle most of their labour needs by hiring local workers.
Addressing a press conference in the government headquarters, Pavić spoke about the situation with labour import quotas, saying that in the construction sector, which had expressed the greatest interest in foreign workers, of a total of 10,770 permits 7,200 were still unused, while 965 applications were being processed, meaning that "less than a third" of the quota had been utilised.
Of the 1,408 vacancies in the shipbuilding industry, 1,168 are still available, with 130 applications being processed.
The quota for the tourism sector is 4,660 and there are still 3,746 positions available, with only 1,081 applications being processed.
"It is evident that, with active employment policy measures and a proactive approach - when we surveyed 190,000 unemployed persons for the tourism season and 24,000 said they wanted seasonal work - the government has managed to settle the needs for the season," Pavić underscored.
Responding to a reporter's comment that these figures were surprising considering that employers were constantly complaining about the lack of workers, Pavić said that he expected that once the season started the quota for the tourism sector would be exhausted.
As regards other labour import quotas, the pools from where labour force traditionally comes to Croatia - mostly neighbouring countries - have already been exhausted, he said.
Quotas are monitored on a daily basis and are adjusted accordingly, he said when asked whether these figures meant that quotas would be reduced next year.
