May the 10th, 2026 – The Croatian labour market has been struggling for a while, needing to import third country nationals and constantly having to quickly fill gaps. It’s safe to say the old adage: you just can’t get the staff. CroWork represents a revolution in the domestic labour market, and it’s the idea of no less than a foreign worker.
As Sinisa Malus/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatia is lacking labour, especially qualified staff. It’s been made clear that much stronger links between the education system and the economy are essential, along with greater investment in developing skills that match real market needs. This has been the domestic reality for several years now, ever since quotas for foreign workers were abolished back in 2021 due to growing labour shortages caused by emigration, which peaked in 2017 when 47,352 Croatian citizens left the country.
croatia can no longer function without foreign labour
According to official government data from back at the end of last year, a total of 170,723 residence and work permits were issued to workers from third countries in Croatia. Of that number, 80,365 permits were issued for new employment. That meant that these foreign workers were coming to Croatia for the very first time. At the same time, 70,275 permits were extended for foreign workers already living and working in the country, while 20,083 work permits for seasonal workers from abroad were issued.
The largest numbers of permits went to workers from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina (32,225), Nepal (31,708), Serbia (24,278), the Philippines (17,629), India (15,400), and North Macedonia (11,856). Foreign labour is becoming an increasingly important slice of the pie for the Croatian labour market. As things currently stand, 29% of Croatian employers employ citizens of various third countries, while 8% plan to do so in the future. Most have secondary vocational qualifications (72%), while 24% of employers also employ particularly highly educated foreign workers.
Employers highlight learning the Croatian language as a crucial prerequisite for successful integration. The fact that 76% of employers are looking for workers, while 65% are simultaneously face to face with a worrying shortage of suitable staff, clearly shows the scale of the challenge. We’re no longer talking only about a shortage of labour, but about a shortage of the specific skills the market actually currently demands.
The greatest demand lies in manufacturing, retail/wholesale trade, administration, logistics, and warehousing. Employers are claiming that the most difficult part is finding workers with secondary vocational education, as well as highly educated and low-skilled workers.
new regulations governing employment represent an additional challenge
Recently, amendments to the Law on Foreigners were sent for a third reading in parliament. They introduce a system of in-depth checks for third-country nationals at Croatia’s external borders, border asylum procedures, and return procedures. Regarding the labour market itself, the changes should bring about some administrative relief, more efficient processing, and better protection for third-country employees.
For foreign workers, a new condition for permit extension is the obligation to learn Croatian and pass a language exam after one year of residence. They will also be able to change employers more easily after six months without needing to apply for another new permit. The permitted period of unemployment during a valid permit will be extended to three months (or six months if the permit has been held for more than two years).
It’s precisely the need for the deeper integration of foreign workers that motivated Olga Berezina to launch the CroWork project, which aims to help foreign workers feel at home and more settled.
berezina – from the “only asian in her neighbourhood” to the crowork creator
Berezina herself has experienced life in Croatia as a foreigner, back during a time when foreigners were still something of an exotic rarity – even more so than now.
“I arrived in Croatia back in 2007, when I was the only Asian woman in the neighbourhood, but in recent years that trend has changed significantly,” she stated. Having lived in Croatia for nearly two decades now, she’s particularly sensitive to the unique challenges faced by foreign workers in a country not yet used to so much foreign presence and cultural diversity.
Foreign workers, recruitment agencies, learning the exceptionally difficult language that is Croatian, and integration have become buzzwords in the Croatian business environment. It’s very easy to shift blame for difficulties onto the state or greedy employers. We often view foreign workers only through the lens of their connection to work and forget that they’re first and foremost people and are very much part of modern Croatian society.
“I believe in social responsibility, which has no political connotations, it’s simply part of our everyday lives. For the last four years, I’ve volunteered and organised integration courses in cooperation with the Inicijativa (Initiative) association,” Berezina stated, adding that integration is part of her own life story.
The idea for CroWork, an innovative Zagorje start-up emerged naturally. The idea came to Berezina through daily contact with foreign workers. She was quick to notice that many of them felt alienated, living life to the full only during working hours, with little quality fulfilment to speak of in their free time. The project initiators have known and collaborated with each other for a decade. That’s how CroWork was born as a job portal and integration platform tailored to the very specific needs of foreign workers already living and working in Croatia.
specific challenges and direct communication
“Foreign workers have been present on the Croatian labour market for some time now, and there’s no sign that demand for them is set to go away or even decrease. Despite that fact, there’s still no transparent, tailored digital platform that connects employers, candidates, and the on-boarding process in one single place,” Berezina explained. CroWork was developed within the Entrepreneurial Centre of Krapina-Zagorje County, and not in the heart of Zagreb or any other larger city.
“The vision of the CroWork platform is to encourage direct communication between employers and foreign workers and to provide support for integration,” revealed Berezina, adding that communication between local and foreign workers is extremely important because changing old habits and altering old thinking patterns is the hardest part.
“Over 18 years of living in Croatia, I’ve met very many highly educated foreigners who never learned Croatian. Although it is possible to communicate in English, this can be a double-edged sword and negatively affects motivation to learn the language. My life in Croatia is much richer because I can express myself fully.”
CroWork is set to launch at the end of May, and the team is currently in intensive talks with entrepreneurs and business owners to involve as many as possible in this pioneering project. Interest is already strong, and the CroWork team has reason to expect increased activity this summer, especially since a large number of foreign workers live and work in gorgeous, hilly Hrvatsko Zagorje.
