February the 19th, 2024 – Concerning analyses from the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP) has claimed that every fourth employee in Croatia will be foreign by 2030.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, with the assumption of stable GDP growth, there will be between 400 and 500 thousand foreign employees in Croatia by 2030. That means that every fourth employee in Croatia may be a foreign national according to the analytical contribution of the Croatian Employers’ Association Focus of the Week/Fokus tjedna.
“Given the accelerated deterioration of Croatia’s demographic trends, strong economic growth and continued labour market tensions, we estimate that the total number of foreign workers could reach 400-500,000 by 2030, assuming GDP growth of around 2.5 percent over the next seven years,” Hrvoje Stojić, chief economist of HUP, pointed out. Foreign workers would then make up a quarter of the domestic total workforce.
Employers believe that in addition to immigration to sectors with the greatest labour deficit, they should target highly qualified workers for activities that achieve faster real productivity growth compared to the EU average and can be the backbone of the economy such as ICT, tourism, construction, agriculture and the parts processing industry, such as production.
With regard to changes to the Law on Foreigners, HUP emphasised the need to strengthen the use of the EU Blue Card for ICT specialists without a completed higher education as well as simpler family reunification procedures, which helps attract talent from third markets, integrate foreigners and ensure further social stability.
They consider the modernisation of the Labour Law in the direction of protecting the workers themselves instead of the workplace, promoting flexible forms of employment, and applying simpler regulations overall.
