Some companies are importing more and more workers from Kosovo and neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of February, 2017, in the tourism sector, somewhat of a race on who would offer better accommodation conditions and higher wages has been taking place, and the demand for workers in the construction sector has been on the increase thanks to a mild winter.
On the last day of January this year, Croatia recorded 195,000 unemployed people, which is 50,000 less registered unemployed people than there were back in January 2017, and the last time so many unemployed persons were registered in the country was way back in 1990. MacroHub Analysts from the Faculty of Economics say that unemployment now stands at six percentage points below its 20-year average and is lower than it was at the peak of the 2008 economic cycle.
The record number of unemployed, 395,000 people, was recorded in Croatia during the winter months between 2001 to 2002, and the current marked decline in unemployment is not only related to the end of the recession and recovery of the economy, but also to Croatian emigration. In the first two weeks of February, the number of unemployed fell by about 3,000 compared to the end of January, and the stock market will be ebbed faster as the Easter period begins, marking the beginning of more extensive agricultural work and early recruitment. Unemployment increases during the winter months is a common seasonal phenomenon in Croatia, as the vast majority of employment is seasonal in such a heavily tourist oriented country.
The increase in the number of pension insurers lasts from March 2015, with an annual growth rate of 2.5 percent. Manufacturing and trade have both increased by 2.7% or 1.1% in the last year, while construction has seen growth of 6.4%.
Davorko Vidović of HGK stated that workers have become the key limiting factor for development, and employers are worried and therefore behave accordingly, he also relayed information that more foreign workers have begun being imported into the country from abroad.
“I know of several companies that have already brought 40 or 50 workers from Kosovo in on buses, and many others have engaged in finding workers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There has been a struggle for people, and this will also be felt on the employees’ income,” concluded Davorko Vidović for Vecernji List.
