Croatian tourism and services sector set for large job boom, says minister.
Despite predictions of the European Commission, which predicts that pensions in Croatia, which are already among the lowest in the EU, will decrease in the coming period, Minister of Labour and Pensions Mirando Mrsić is optimistic, reports Poslovni.hr on October 23, 2015.
Talking at a business event in Makarska, Mrsić commented that the analysis referred to the situation before 2013, when old pension regulations were in effect, and when there were different trends in the economy. Mrsić clarified that the first pension pillar will continue to represent the basis for retirement security, but that the state will pay less and less money into it, with the difference going to the second and third pension pillars. It is expected there will be an increase of payments into the second pillar, but in a way that will not be too hard for employees and employers.
With the reduction of fiscal charges for employers, money will be freed which will strengthen the pension system. The minister explained that the major problem is that in Croatia there are only 12 percent of pensioners who have worked for the maximum allowed time, and those people can have pensions which are about 74 percent of the average salary. In the coming period, the goal will be for average pension to be around 60 percent of average salary, which will be higher than it is today, Mrsić announced. “According to the program which we have prepared, and which has been accepted by the EU, our pension system will be sustainable for at least another 40 years. The fact is that Croatia has problems like most other Western countries – the population is aging, and more people die than there are newborns. By 2030, Croatia will have around 300.000 new jobs, primarily in tourism and the service sector, which it will not be able to fill with its own workforce”, Mrsić said and added that there is already an apparent shortage of workers in many sectors, especially tourism, metallurgy and transport.
While tourism can employ seasonal workers from the inland part of the country, the minister estimated that such a system will not be sustainable for a long time because it is realistic to expect that in the coming years Slavonia will quickly develop and there will be shortage of potential seasonal workers.
Mrsić is convinced that the Croatian education system produces high-quality young professionals, but it should focus more on practical education. “You have a situation where young people in vocational schools begin learning their crafts only after completing their education. If children would spend 3 to 4 days a week in a workshop, and only one or two days in a classroom, I think the effects would be much better. On the other hand, it will all be for nothing if our workers have low salaries. After the EU opened its borders, this is a trend which cannot be prevented. That happened in all new EU member states, which have experienced serious emigration for about 10 years. It is not true that 100,000 people have left Croatia, as some have speculated, but every professional who no longer works in Croatia is a reason to worry. When the level of wages in our country is increased, I am sure that we will talk about importing experts from other EU countries”, the minister concluded.
