The mass exodus of young families in their prime has long been a daily reality in Croatia. It has become a worn-out lament that there are 200,000 potential workers on the job market, yet employers cannot find quality staff, not even any staff at all, regardless of their expertise or inexperience. However, this remains the Croatian reality, and the problem grows with each new bus, as it signifies for many employers the refusal of new jobs, opportunities for business expansion, and strengthening the economy.
>>> Working Abroad: Possible Additional Tax Payments in Croatia Can Only Be Avoided by Exiting Residency
Rather on the Job Market in Side Jobs than on a Contract
“I have the feeling that an entire generation has disappeared. There will be no one to work when we retire,” says Nikola Kovačević, owner of the Rubor auto repair shop in Zapruđe, Zagreb, for Deutsche Welle. The forty-three-year-old Kovačević has struggled for years to find labor, although, as he says, he offers decent pay and conditions.
>>> In the New Issue of Lider: 25 Unusual Requests and Situations from Job Interviews
One did not show up for the interview, and another came only for confirmation that he had attended the interview to maintain his unemployed status for health insurance, while earning money working side jobs.
“I advertise on MojPosao, through Facebook, and through the Employment Service. The job center has sent me names of up to seven people who were supposed to come for an interview, but not a single one showed up. Once, two people contacted me through the job center. One did not come for the interview, and the other came only for confirmation that he had attended the interview to maintain his unemployed status for health insurance, while earning money working side jobs,” says Kovačević, who finds that new people simply do not show up on the day they were supposed to start working.
Stubbornness: If You Left, I Won’t Hire You
However, employers are not giving up. They work with what they have, and in some cases, stubbornness has kicked in, leading them not to hire returnees, like a construction entrepreneur from Zadar who became famous for an ad in which he stated he was looking for astronauts and psychiatrists to work on a mixer. He wrote the ad out of frustration with the fact that unqualified workers apply for jobs, suddenly knowing everything about construction when they read that the daily wage is 400 kuna.
“Everything that was good has gone abroad. If you left, I won’t hire you again, that’s stubbornness,” says this Zadar employer, who also shared that people who went abroad complain to him about sleeping eight in a room, without a kitchen, and working from morning till night. When they deduct the rent and expenses, their pay ends up being the same as in Croatia.
>>> In the New Issue of Lider – Employers Have Started Importing Workers from Hungary
Increasing the quota for importing foreign labor has its advocates, but the Croatian Employers’ Association agrees that this is a stopgap measure attempting to bridge the problem of the lack of qualified labor. However, the question arises as to how long this bridging will last, given that it is believed in HUP and beyond that a comprehensive reform of education is necessary for a long-term solution to the employment problem, which is key to restructuring the entire system.
For Some a Benefit, for Others a Cost
In the meantime, employers who want to retain labor in the homeland with certain benefits like hot meals are not stimulated at all; on the contrary, they claim they are being punished.
The manager of a restaurant in Zagreb explained that for the hot meal he would provide to his employees, he must pay all contributions because it is considered pay in kind, while for seasonal workers by the sea, it is not. The government measure, in fact, does not apply to Zagreb, where last summer it was impossible for hospitality businesses to find workers.
>>> Benefits for Workers: How to Retain Workers When Everything is Taxed?
“I want to give my worker a hot meal, but I am punished if I do so. I cannot even implement it as representation, but if I rent a yacht for a week and pretend I took a business partner, that is recognized as a cost in full amount,” he complained about the ‘absurdities’ of the measure by which the state decided to provide relief on contributions to employers who kept a worker on minimum wage for a year.
“I am punished because I gave people higher wages and paid them legally, with all contributions,” concludes the frustrated employer in an interview for DW.
