ZAGREB, 10 April 2022 - Fewer and fewer university graduates in Croatia find their first job in their field, while the number of graduated students who found work in the public sector has increased, a survey has shown.

The survey of employability of students who graduated in the academic year 2018/2019 was carried out by the Agency for Science and Higher Education, covering 16% of students who completed their studies in Croatia in 2019.

Presenting the findings earlier this week, Matko Glunčić said that 94% of the respondents remained in Croatia, while the rest had moved abroad.

The largest number of respondents, about 45%, said they believed the cause of their current unemployment was the insufficient supply of jobs in their field.

After graduation, about 42% found work in the public sector, an increase of more than 4% compared with the 2017 survey. Nearly 64% found a job in their field, compared with 78% in 2017.

The largest number of those surveyed (32%) got a job after contacting the employer, over 18% found work through the national employment bureau (HZZ), and nearly as many found a job through their family connections, friends or acquaintances. By comparison, in 2017 most respondents had found their first job with the help of the HZZ.

Slightly fewer than 40% of respondents earned between HRK 5,000 and 7,000 a month, 25% made between HRK 3,500 and 5,000, 11% earned below HRK 3,500 and slightly fewer than 6% made over HRK 10,000 a month.

The largest number of respondents graduated with an average grade of A.

Over 33% of respondents graduated in social sciences, 22% in biomedicine, 22% in health care and nearly 22% in engineering.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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ZAGREB, 17 March 2022 - In order to ensure the continuity of control of employment in the public and state sectors, the Croatian government on Thursday imposed a ban on fixed-term and permanent employment in state and public services, providing for certain exceptions and defining terms for lifting the ban.

The ban on employment in state and public services was envisaged by laws on the execution of the 2020 and 2021 state budgets, but not by the law on the execution of the 2022 state budget. This is the reason why the government today adopted two new decisions to impose a ban on employment in public, as well as state administration services.

Reduction of parafiscal levies

The government also sent the parliament amendments to the State Survey and Real Property Cadastre Act for discussion under fast-track procedure, as part of measures from the Action Plan for the reduction of non-tax and parafiscal levies.

The amendments are aimed at abolishing the collection of most charges related to the use of data required to issue extracts, copies and certificates of data from the state survey, real property cadastre and infrastructure documentation, and the register of buildings, spatial units and geographic names, as well as related to access to information and certain actions requested by clients, and at abolishing the collection of administrative fees.

The amendments are part of the measures Croatia has undertaken to implement in order to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) and the banking union, and the deadline for their implementation is the end of March. 

For more, check out our dedicated politics and lifestyle sections.

January 4, 2022 - According to an analysis by the MojPosao portal, in 2021 more jobs were sought than before the pandemic and the most sought-after occupations were waiter, salesman, driver, storekeeper, cook, programmer, and production worker.

Last year, more than 74,000 job advertisements were published on the MojPosao portal, which is 42 percent more than in 2020 and eight percent more than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, while more than 1.5 million work applications were received, the MojPosao portal announced today.

"The analysis of the entire labor market, taking into account the total number of published job advertisements, shows a growing trend of labor demand and recovery of the labor market from the effects of the coronavirus crisis," said the portal MojPosao. According to the data they present, the most sought-after occupations in 2021 were: waiter (bartender), salesman (trader), driver, storekeeper, cook, programmer, and production worker.

Compared to the previous year, the highest growth in the number of advertisements was recorded in the categories of human resources (growth of 130 percent) and architecture (growth of 127 percent), while compared to 2019, the highest growth was recorded in the categories of construction, geodesy, geology 51 percent) and health, social work (growth of 46 percent).

The MojPosao portal also pointed out that last year more than 1.5 million employee applications were received, which is 6 percent more than in 2020 and 21 percent more than in 2019.

"Despite the fact that the beginning of the year did not look promising due to the rigorous epidemiological measures in force in January and February, which limited economic developments, the mitigation of measures in March led to a recovery in the labor market and significant growth in vacancies jobs which continued until the end of the year. Moreover, thanks to the high demand for labor in the second half of the year, the total number of published job advertisements exceeded the figures from the record, pre-pandemic 2019'', the portal states.

The director of the MojPosao portal, Igor Žonja, pointed out that the favorable trends are a reflection of a fairly successful tourist season and somewhat later seasonal employment than is usually the case, and "for some time now Croatia has been looking for more workers".

Last year, more than half of the ads (52 percent) referred to Zagreb and Zagreb County, followed by coastal counties - Primorje-Gorski Kotar (12 percent), Sibenik-Knin (also 12 percent), and Istria County (10 percent).

Considering the type of employment, in 2021, vacancies accounted for 73 percent of the total number of vacancies, which is almost the same as the year before, according to the MojPosao portal, noting that the ads provide for the possibility of marking more types of employment for the same job. Thus, there was 53 percent of job advertisements, also the same as in 2020. Seasonal workers were sought in six percent of the ads, while three percent of the ads were related to student jobs.

According to the MojPosao portal, 49 percent of employees were interested in a permanent job, while 24 percent were interested in part-time work. Also, seven percent of job seekers were interested in part-time work, and almost the same number of employees expressed interest in seasonal employment.

In 2021, employers were most often looking for candidates with a high school diploma - in 51 percent of advertisements, a high school diploma was a condition for successfully applying to the competition.

In 31 percent of the ads, knowledge of English was required, and in eight percent, German, while other languages ​​were less represented. Work experience was required in less than half of the ads (42 percent), on average two years and four months, the same as the year before.

In 2021, employers published more than 3,000 job advertisements abroad, which is 58 percent more than in 2020 and as much as 73 percent more than in 2019. Most advertisements abroad were published for work in Germany, Austria, and Slovenia, according to a statement from the MojPosao portal.

Source: Telegram.hr

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ZAGREB, 3 Jan 2022 - The EIZ Online Vacancy Index (OVI) has shown that labor demand in 2021 was up 5.5% compared to the pre-pandemic year 2019 and the positive trend continued in December with labor demand up by 32% year on year, the Institute of Economics, Zagreb (EIZ) reported on Monday.

"Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the calendar year has ended with good news because the latest OVI index has shown a continuing positive image of the labor market," EIZ said on its website.

The OVI index for December 2021 shows that labor demand in 2021 was 75% higher than for data related to December 2020 and 32% higher compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019. This is the eighth month in a row in which labor demand has exceeded pre-pandemic months.

Labor demand in 2021 was 5.5% higher than it was in 2019 while the OVI index was 48% higher in 2021 compared to 2020.

EIZ reported that positive trends are also visible quarter on quarter with the OVI index for the fourth quarter of 2021 is as much as 60% higher than in Q4, 2020 and 20% higher compared with 2019 Q4.

The most sought-after workers were salespeople, cooks, waiters, warehouse workers, and drivers while 46 percent of advertisements were for fixed-term employment and 44 percent for permanent employment. In 2021, 1.6% of the jobs advertised offered the opportunity of working from home which is a significant increase compared to 2019. Prior to the pandemic, a mere 0.1% provided that option.

In addition, 2.6% of job advertisements in 2021 were for pensioners, up 1.2% from 2020 and 0.6% from 2019, EIZ analysts reported.

OVI is a monthly index of online job advertisements developed by EIZ in cooperation with the MojPosao job search website. The index aims to provide timely information on current labor demand.

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December the 5th, 2021 - Valamar's purchase of an Austrian hotel could be fantastic not only for those who are investing in Croatian tourism but also for Croatian staff who want something much more permanent than seasonal work over summer.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, a Valamar Austrian hotel, a new one that is, could finally iron out the issues faced by temporary employment and the extremely seasonal nature of the Croatian economy, making things far more stable for Croatian staff who crave a regular income without worries.

Such an exchange, however, can hardly be expected at an institutional, interstate level, either because of legal barriers or the fear of hoteliers that they will lose workers who will simply drop everything without a second thought for a better salary in a ski-oriented, higher paying country.

In such circumstances, it is difficult to expect employers to seek formal education when hiring, which is advocated by professors from the Croatian education system, especially because students are educated according to outdated and inappropriate curricula. That could change once the Regional Centres for Competences in Vocational Education come to life, and the first effects on the labour market should be seen in around 2028. All of this could be heard at a panel discussion held at Zagreb's Faculty of Economics on Thursday.

The discussion on the connection between education and the labour market with as many as 10 panelists was organised by Zabok High School and the Faculty of Economics within the ESF project Zabok Regional Centre.

As many as three large tourist companies operating here in Croatia have facilities in their portfolio at Austrian ski resorts, and they're all fresh acquisitions. The Falkensteiner Group opened the Hotel Kronplatz in South Tyrol last year, this September it was announced that the Arena Hospitality Group is buying the Franz Ferdinand Mountain Resort hotel in Nassfeld. Valamar Riviera is currently buying its second hotel in Obertauern, and the plan is to employ more than 130 Valamar employees from Croatia during the winter at the ski resort.

"At Valamar, the focus is on permanent employment, we also have over 1,000 permanent seasonal workers, and the strategy of the internationalisation of our business in winter destinations has fitted in perfectly with these efforts. This gives Croatian staff the opportunity to continue working in this market, which has higher salaries, after the summer season, as their income in hotels in Obertauern is in line with Austrian law. In addition to the financial opportunity, they get a chance to expand their knowledge and experience, as well as improve their knowledge of the German language, which is important.

At the same time, they're sure that they will be accompanied there by the heads of departments they already know from Croatia, and they're also sure that they will have a job on the Adriatic by the time spring rolls around. This is also our attempt to address the problem of the emigration of Croatian staff abroad in this way,'' said Ines Damjanic Sturman, the director of the Human Resources Department at Valamar.

Although this is being considered, the institution of exchanging employees between countries with higher needs in the summer or winter season will be difficult to implement, said Sonja Holocher-Ertl, the director of Advantage Austria, a branch of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce's foreign trade department. On the Advantage Austria website, about 40 travel companies are currently looking for workers from Croatia.

“Hotel owners in Austria have similar problems when it comes to finding workers as Croats do. The most basic occupations are in demand, waiters, chefs, receptionists, housekeepers, janitors... and most employers are small or medium-sized family businesses, owners of 4 or 5 star facilities. This winter season, a desirable criterion is that workers be fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Exchanging workers is an attractive idea, but it can best be done if someone happens to be the owner of said facility, who then relocates his workers as he wishes.

Without that, the matter can easily become very complicated, either because of legal procedures or because of the fear of employers that workers will simply stay where the conditions are better, in Switzerland, for example, Croatian staff are paid significantly more than they'd ever be in Croatia,'' explained Holocher-Ertl.

When it comes to labor migration, Natasa Kacar, director of the employment agency Gate2Solutions, claims that there are a lot of Croatian citizens who do, despite all, want to return to Croatia eventually.

"A lot of workers who work abroad call us because they're looking for jobs in tourism back home in Croatia, but they want decent wages and off-season work as well, and they want to know what conditions their would-be employers offer, and it's very difficult for us to find employers who can offer them what they need,'' concluded Kacar.

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November the 24th, 2021 - The end of October this year saw 1.58 million officially employed Croatian residents as the domestic economy continues to grow steadily as we emerge delicately from the global pandemic.

The rocky situation with the global economy has made sure that no country could easily escape the dire economic consequences that this truly unprecedented situation has caused, and countries like Croatia, which relies very heavily on tourism, took a very heavy blow indeed. It seems however, that things are on the up.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, at the end of October this year, there were 1.58 million officially employed Croatian residents, which is 0.2 percent more than in September and two percent more than in October last year, while the registered unemployment rate in October stood at 7.2 percent, which is an increase by 0.2 percentage points on a monthly level, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

According to the CBS, there were 1,581,743 officially Croatian residents during the month of October, which is 3,599 or 0.2 percent more than at the end of September this year. At the annual level, the number of total employees in the country increased by two percent.

1,368,324 persons were employed within legal entities, which is 11,746 persons or 0.9 percent more than a month before. Compared to the same month last year, this growth was stronger and amounted to 1.8 percent.

According to the data that the CBS takes from the records of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute, there were 194,810 employees in crafts and trades at the end of October, which is 8,165 or four percent less than in September 2021. At the annual level, the number of officially employed Croatian residents in crafts and trades was higher by four percent.

More detailed statistics on the number of employees in legal entities show an increase on a monthly basis in most activities, with the largest increase in the number of employees in the education sector, by 8.2 percent, to 121,331 persons.

For more on working in Croatia, and employment, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

November the 3rd, 2021 - The old saying that you just can't get the staff couldn't ring more true than it does in Croatia. The country is lacking when it comes to employees across the majority of sectors, and Croatian computer scientists, despite the country's IT boom, are in such short supply that students are being given jobs.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the situation with both the Croatian economy and the demographic picture isn't news to anyone who doesn't live under a rock, but this is especially evident when it comes to Croatian computer scientists. Companies can’t find enough of them and are simply offering employment positions to high school students to try to bridge the gap. They're promising them additional education and an opportunity for professional advancement.

If any part of the domestic economy has managed to resist the pandemic-induced pressures which began in 2020, then it's the blossoming Croatian information technology sector. Quite on the contrary to the vast majority of other sectors, they even managed to grow and hire new staff throughout the pandemic. Last year alone, Ericsson Nikola Tesla employed about 200 people, this year, as of September the 1st 347 professionals were hired. While that's excellent, the original plan was even more ambitious.

"We wanted 600 people, we didn't succeed, the plan is 500 new experts by the end of the year," said Gordana Kovacevic, president of Croatia's largest ICT company, Ericsson Nikola Tesla.

"It's an extremely slow process for us, so we're offering for students to come and join our teams, educate them further, and establish excellent relationships with the colleges, because the speed of change that is happening is incredible," stated Kovacevic.

The demand is also quite amazing. Tesla is currently looking for about 500 people a year, and the total potential of the Croatian market isn't quite up to par. Zeljko Krizmanic, the coordinator of Bird Incubator, also commented on the topic:

"Companies have been recruiting for some time now, and not only those people who are leaving college, but also those who are still in college, in their third or fourth year,'' he explained.

“It ' also very interesting for young people to try to start their own companies because there have been a lot of successful examples lately, such as Nanobit, Infinum, Rimac, companies that didn't even exist 12 years ago and are now valued at over a billion dollars, so the startup culture is growing a lot. I know of several startups in the Bird incubator looking for experts, and it's proving difficult to find them,'' added Krizmanic.

Kovacevic, on the other hand, says that the state should adapt school programmes to new technologies and the industries of the future, otherwise the most capable will be the constant target of foreign bounty hunters.

"In fact, the whole of Europe has a shortage of experts with ICT skills, unless something completely different happens, in terms of training, creating new knowledge and retraining, they will forcibly take experts from each other,'' he warned. It is imperative to promote STEM since primary schools and to provide scholarships to local talent as of high school age, believes Kovacevic.

For more, make sure to check out our business section.

October the 29th, 2021 - A huge amount of Croatian workers will need to consider changing their occupations as digitalisation and automation continues to leave the need for the human touch in the past, according to a recent analysis.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, approximately 340,000 jobs will disappear due to automation and trends fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but rest assured, these will be replaced by almost the same number of new jobs in new occupations and growing industries and due to a general increase in productivity. While net labour demand will remain virtually unchanged, there will be significant changes in the structure of occupations on offer. Therefore, by the end of the decade, almost 140,000 Croatian workers will need to change their occupations in order to remain employed.

This is one of the conclusions of the analysis published by McKinsey & Company Adriatic in cooperation with McKinsey Global Institute entitled The Future of Work in Croatia - Transformation of the Croatian Workforce in the Age of Automation and Digitalisation, which examines the impact of automation, artificial intelligence and digital technologies on various sectors, occupations and jobs, and the combined impact of all this on the combination of skills that the Croatian workforce will need to have by 2030.

Realising the full economic potential of automation and digitalisation, but also maintaining the existing level of employment will require the cooperation of all stakeholders to find ways to enable Croatian workers to transform and acquire the skills that will be required in the future.

"This isn't just going to happen by itself - all private organisations, public institutions and educational institutions will have to work together during the transition period to realise this potential," said Tomislav Brezinscak, CEO of McKinsey & Company Adriatic.

By 2030, six percent of the total number of working hours in Croatia will move from jobs that require physical skills to solve work tasks to jobs that require cognitive, social, emotional and technological skills. Specific skills, such as those needed to manage devices and equipment and to easily enter and process data, are likely to experience the largest drop in demand in the share of employees by 2030. This is to be expected, as activities that require physical strength and skill as well as data collection and processing skills are something that can be very easily automated now.

The analyses described in this report take into account the composition of the workforce throughout the country, combined with the expected rate of the adoption of automation, based on available technologies and the economic feasibility of their implementation. When looking at the potential speed of automation from the perspective of trends fueled by the coronavirus pandemic, Croatia will achieve an automation adoption rate of around 22 percent by 2030.

In other words, the activities that currently account for about 22 percent of the total number of working hours of employees in Croatia will be automated by the end of the decade. The adoption of automation will vary from sector to sector - manufacturing, wholesale, business functions that serve to support the administration, and public administration - will be the areas with the highest rate of automation adoption.

Croatia needs to improve its productivity in order to achieve sustainable economic growth and income growth in all segments of the population. This is especially important because the population of Croatia is only getting older. Automation is also an opportunity to realise Croatian national interests. Companies, if supported by the appropriate policies and investment in skills development, can develop new services and products, increase their productivity and create new and better paid jobs. By embracing the changes that will take place in the world of work over the current decade, Croatia can avoid structural unemployment and create new national wealth in a way that promotes social inclusion.

Accelerated digitisation may be the most important new driver of growth, and Croatia's digital economy, which encompasses all digital activities in all economic sectors, now accounts for approximately five percent of GDP, equivalent to 2.4 billion euros. By 2025, the digital economy in Croatia can reach 11 percent of GDP, which means that it will contribute to the value of the overall economy with 8.3 billion euros.

Although automation and digitalisation provide an opportunity to create a more productive and competitive Croatian workforce, they also bring several challenges - especially in terms of losing existing jobs and developing future skills. Like stakeholders in other EU countries, all stakeholders in Croatia must balance the pace of automation and the acquisition of new skills if they want the country to benefit from automation and the introduction of new technologies.

If automation and digitisation happen too quickly, it may happen that the new jobs that will be created will remain unfilled by Croatian workers, and that, potentially, could lead to worsening income inequality. On the other hand, if automation and digitalisation happen too slowly, it could harm Croatia's competitiveness and prevent economic growth.

For more, check out our business section.

October the 27th, 2021 - The Croatian unemployment rate is continuing to fall, particularly and apparently encouragingly among the youth. Fixed-term contracts currently dominate.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, as of yesterday, there were 123,000 unemployed people regisered at the Croatian Employment Service (CES). When compared to the end of last month, this represents an increase of 3910 people, but on an annual basis, this number still indicates a decrease in the number of unemployed people in the country - compared to the end of last October, there are 21,000 fewer of them.

According to the latest monthly report, for September, the annual Croatian unemployment rate was almost a fifth (19 percent) or 28,340 lower. In year-on-year comparisons, the number of unemployed people in the age group of 20 to 24 decreased the most, by almost 30 percent, which brought its share in the total number of unemployed people in the country below ten percent.

There are more and more job ads...

The overall better picture of the domestic labour market compared to last year is evidenced, among other things, by the fact that as many as 44 percent more vacancies were registered in September this year (23.5 compared to 16.3 thousand).

Relatively speaking, the largest increase was recorded in Istria County, where the number of workers needed was twice as high as it was last September, in Split-Dalmatia County, 80 percent more employees were sought, Zagreb also recorded 73 percent more September searches for workers. More than 700 workers were sought for work abroad, which is 37 percent more than in the same month last year.

At the same time, slightly more than 21,400 people de-registered as unemployed last month (12 percent less than last September).

In 16,800 of them, the reason was the fact that they had found work, but more than 900 people ceased to have this status due to other forms of business activities, such as people who had started their own business (by registering a trade or company).

Of those who found employment, almost nine out of ten cases were fixed-term contracts, and almost half of new employees found work in education. Of the total number of those who found a job last month, 6,300 of them are from the group of people who have a higher education.

At the same time, more than 4,600 people were deleted from the unemployment register for other reasons, and in addition to leaving the world of work due to retirement or inclusion in regular schooling, about 1,500 people were ''deleted'' from the list due to non-compliance with legal provisions.

In more than half of the people in this group, the reason is that they aren't actively looking for a job. For 75 of them, the reason is refusing to look for or accept a job, and a further ten have refused to enroll in some form of education. Of the total number of unemployed people, the share of those who receive CES cash benefits has actually been declining for years. Currently, the benefit is received by a little more than 25 thousand people, or just a little more than every fifth unemployed person.

In the structure of those who are unemployed according to the level of education, it is noticeable that the share of highly educated people has been slightly growing this year as well, although at the end of September this year there were nominally 24,000 or almost 500 less such people in this situation than there were last year.

For more on the Croatian unemployment rate, the economy and working in Croatia, make sure to check out our business section.

ZAGREB, 23 Oct, 2021 - Close to 30% of companies in Croatia did not have any employees in 2020 when of 139,009 businesses, 41,595  (29.9%) did not have workers, the Financial Agency (FINA) has said in a report which is based on processed annual financial statements.

A total of 37,865 of the 41,595 businesses without employees operated normally, 1,273 were undergoing liquidation, and 2,457 were undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.

A total of 17,438 businesses operated at a profit while 24,157 reported losses.

The share of businesses without employees in the total number of businesses was high, 29.9%, but it was small in relation to other positive indicators, with the share of businesses without employees in total revenue being 2.7%, in expenses 3.1%, pre-tax profit 7%, profit for the period 7.4%, exports 2% and investments 2.7%, FINA said.

Most of the businesses without employees operated in trade (8,280), followed by professional, scientific and technical activities (6,023) and construction (4,644).

Businesses without employees in trade had the highest total revenue (HRK 4.3 billion), followed by businesses in real estate activities (HRK 3.5 bn), and businesses in construction (HRK 3.3 bn).

Businesses without employees in 2020 incurred a net loss in 13 activities and operated in the black in eight activities.

The total financial result of all businesses without employees was negative, a net loss of HRK 2.1 billion.

The highest net loss was reported by businesses in real estate activities (HRK 755.7 million), construction (HRK 690.7 million), and manufacturing (HRK 403.2 million).

The lowest loss was reported by businesses in Other service activities (HRK 3.4 million).

Businesses without employees reported a net profit in only two counties - Međimurje County (HRK 16.8 million) and Virovitica-Podravina County (HRK 8.6 million) - while those in other counties reported losses, the highest having been reported in Istria County (HRK 436.1 million), followed by Split-Dalmatia County (HRK 433.1 million), and Zadar County (HRK 304.5 million).

The net loss of businesses without employees in the City of Zagreb, which had the largest number of such businesses (14,500 or 35% of the total number), was HRK 54 million.

Broken down by type of ownership, most businesses without employees were privately owned (41,165 or 99%) and they also reported the highest loss, of HRK 1.8 billion.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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