August 30, 2023 – The OVI* (Online Vacancy Index) for jobs in Croatia fell by one percent in July compared to last year. A decline was also recorded at the monthly level for the third month in a row, this time by 3.2 percent, the Economic Institute Zagreb (EIZ) announced.
“On an annual basis, the OVI declined by one percent in July, after a mild decline in May and a moderate recovery in June. If we consider seasonally adjusted data and the movement of the Index compared to previous months, a decline was recorded for the third month in a row. The decrease in May amounted to three percent, 6.2 percent in June, and an additional 3.2 percent in July. The second quarter ended in a minus of two percent compared to the previous one. The beginning of the third quarter also began with a decline,” it was stated in the announcement on the EIZ website, as writes Index.
However, EIZ analysts believe it is still a matter of moving seasonal employment towards the beginning of the year instead of during the tourist pre-season, as was the custom in previous years, and not the slowing down trends in the labor market.
“This is supported by the growth rate of the number of job advertisements in Croatia in the first seven months of the year compared to the first seven months of last year. In that aspect, Croatia has experienced 4.1 percent and 5.6 percent growth compared to the previous seven months,” they wrote.
Developer Jobs in Croatia Record the most significant decline
The most sought-after occupations are the same as last July – salespeople, warehouse workers, drivers, servers, cooks, and accountants. Together, they generated a 1.7 percent increase in the number of advertisements on an annual basis.
The most significant drop in the ranking of the most in-demand occupations happened in the field of IT, where developers went from 13th to 24th place. The most significant increase in ads was seen for doctors, who jumped from 25th place last year to the 12th most in-demand occupation in July 2023.
Furthermore, as EIZ stated, the steepest absolute decrease in the number of advertisements on an annual basis in July was recorded for the professions of developers, teachers, and hospitality workers, while the most significant increase was observed for doctors, accountants, warehouse workers, and drivers.
The share of advertisements in which a secondary qualification was requested continued to increase. In July, it amounted to 62 percent, as did the number of ads offering permanent employment, from 44.1 to 47.4 percent.
July Decrease in Central Croatia
In July, only central Croatia saw a decrease in the number of job advertisements, 4.1 percent annually, while eastern Croatia recorded a growth of 23.9 percent and the northern Adriatic of 19.5 percent.
The drop in July is only the second recorded annual drop in the number of ads in central Croatia since February 2021, with the first having happened in December 2022. The professions that contributed the most to the decline in advertisements in central Croatia have been those of developers, teachers, finance, and IT specialists, EIZ reported.
*OVI – Online Vacancy Index – is a monthly index of online job vacancies developed at the Institute of Economics in cooperation with the MojPosao portal, and its purpose is to provide timely information on the current state of demand for work. This Index is created by counting the number of unique new ads whose application deadlines end in the month for which the Index is calculated. Considering that ads published on only one portal are taken, the number of ads is expressed as an index (base year is 2020).
