ZAGREB (Croatia), January 13 (SeeNews) - Labour demand in Croatia dropped 28% last year, compared with 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social and economic restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the disease, local think-tank Economic Institute in Zagreb (EIZ) said.

Labour demand fell in 2020 for almost all occupations, EIZ said in its monthly Online Vacancy Index (OVI) report on Tuesday.

The highest decrease in labour demand was recorded in the services sector, for occupations such as sales people, waiters and cooks.

Higher demand was recorded for occupations related to the pandemic and post-earthquake reconstruction efforts such as bricklayers, nurses, medical doctors, dentists, construction workers, teachers, carpenters and construction engineers.

In the fourth quarter alone, labour demand fell 25% year-on-year. The same annual rate of decrease was registered in December 2020.

OVI is a monthly index of online job advertisements developed by EIZ in cooperation with local web portal MojPosao. It aims to provide timely information on current labour demand.

Devastating earthquakes hit Croatia in March and December, causing extensive damage to buildings and public infrastructure in several cities, including Zagreb and Petrinja. The damage from the March earthquake has been estimated at 86 billion kuna ($13.8 billion/11.4 billion euro), the ministry of physical planning, construction and state assets said earlier.

The extent of damage caused by the earthquake in December has not yet been determined, but it will likely surpass 3 billion kuna, Ivo Zinic, prefect of the affected Sisak-Moslavina county, told local media earlier this month.

(1 euro = 7.5763 kuna)