EU’s New Favourite Summer Holiday Destination in Desperate Need of Workers

However, the increasing number of tourists, which is anticipated to reach a record in the upcoming months, might encounter a labour shortage for the country in the tourism sector which accounts for around 20 per cent of the country’s economy, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

After relying on local workers for almost 32 years as an independent country, statistics on work permits show that more employers are required to fill the gap.

“Croatia alone cannot provide enough labour to maintain tourism as its main industry, and it is in a situation where it clearly needs the arrival of labour from abroad. There are no indications that this trend is going to change,” Boris Vujcic, governor of the Central Bank noted for Bloomberg Linea.

The boost of Croatia’s beaches was fueled by the membership in the Schengen area and switching to the single currency, not chronologically. This lifted border crossings with neighbours like Hungary and Slovenia, and 95 per cent of tourists arrive in Croatia by car.

On the other hand, Croatia’s unemployment rate hit its lowest level since 1982 in 2023 and the local population is declining.

In order to meet demand, Croatian employers are hiring workers from other countries, such as neighbouring Balkan countries.

In 2023, the number of permits granted to non-EU workers is expected to reach 180,000, contrary to 2015 levels when 2,700 permits were issued to these workers in 2015. In this case, the share of foreign workers in the overall workforce would extend to more than ten per cent, as the Secretary of State for the Interior Ministry, Zarko Katic said.

In efforts to address labour shortages, the Croatian government is expected to change the laws this year, especially for non-EU workers. Since more than 40 per cent of foreign workers come from places like the Philippines or India, permits would have a longevity of three instead of one year and workers would be able to stay in Croatia between works.

According to an article by Euractiv, Croatia had 1.6 million people in employment and another 1.2 million pensioners at the end of 2022. The ratio of pensions compared to jobs is quite low; one to 1.3 and there are still tens of thousands of unfilled vacancies.

There are some 40 professions in which companies can import workers directly, and some of the most unfilled jobs include waiters, line cooks, construction workers, teachers, nurses, truck drivers and IT experts.