March 4 (SeeNews) - Labour demand in Croatia dipped 0.3% on the year in February, following a 6.7% drop in January, a local think-tank said on Monday.
In the last three years, the Online Vacancy Index (OVI) recorded a decrease in value on an annual level only six times, and the decline in February 2024 was the smallest of them, the Institute of Economics Zagreb (EIZ) said in a monthly report.
After a decrease in January, the OVI index rose by 3.0% in February according to seasonally adjusted data, compared to the previous month, which is the largest increase since September last year.
Although the index rose by 1.8% in the last 12 months, compared to the previous 12 months, the seasonally adjusted data for the first two months of 2024 point to a moderate decrease on a quarterly level in the first quarter of this year, it added.
Salespeople, cooks, waiters, warehouse workers, and drivers remain the most sought-after occupations, unchanged from a year ago.
The largest drop in the number of job advertisements in absolute terms on an annual level in February was recorded for waiters and cooks, while the highest increase was recorded for repair workers and bookkeepers.
Compared to February 2023, the share of advertisements seeking secondary level education increased to 64.6% from 61.5%, while the share of advertisements seeking lower levels of education fell to 14.3% from 15.2%, and the share of those requiring high levels of education fell to 21.2% from 23.3%.
The share of advertisements offering permanent employment rose to 51.6% from 45.3%, while the share of advertisements offering fixed-term employment decreased over the year, to 36.5% from 41.1%.