This measure was launched on 1 April, and both employed and unemployed persons can apply for vouchers. A total of 2,221 persons have done so by the end of July, the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) said in response to the query from Hina.
The HZZ is conducting the voucher-based adult education scheme together with the Labour Ministry.
So far, 1,762 vouchers have been granted, 459 applications are being processed, and 1,587 are under preparation, as applicants have chosen the skill they want to acquire but are still gathering the necessary documents, the HZZ said.
Although more than half of the planned quota of vouchers has been used up so far, the HZZ was reserved in predicting whether all 4,000 vouchers planned for this year would be used. A total of 30,000 vouchers will be offered over the next four years.
The HZZ said that in addition to programmes for the acquisition of green skills, there was demand for the development of programmes at all levels of education, including those for persons holding university degrees. That’s why it has invited adult education institutions to get actively involved in the development of new programmes and request their registration in the education programmes database.
To qualify for a voucher, a person must be at least 15 years old and have at least primary school education. The same conditions apply regardless of whether applicants are employed in the private, public or state sector. Education programmes last up to six months or 10 months, depending on whether the applicant is unemployed or employed.
In the last four months, more women than men and more employed persons than unemployed have applied for vouchers. The average age of voucher recipients is 34 years, and the employed to unemployed ratio is 77.3 to 22.7 per cent.
The greatest interest in new occupations has been shown by residents of Zagreb, Osijeka, Rijeka and Split.
