June 3 (SeeNews) - Labour demand in Croatia showed the first signs of recovery in May, following a sharp drop in April as a result of the coronavirus outbreak but its levels are still far below those before the pandemic, a local think-tank said.
In May, the seasonally-adjusted Online Vacancy Index (OVI) index developed by the Institute of Economics, Zagreb (EIZ) was up 40.6% compared to April, but still 57.4% below the value of May 2019, EIZ said in a statement on Tuesday.
The values show that although the pandemic has weakened and economic activities have resumed, it will take a while for the labour market to return to its full scope, EIZ said.
In April, OVI fell 61.1% month-on-month and was 71.7% lower on the year.
In May, the demand for the typically most sought-after occupations continues to be low in annual comparison, with demand for sales persons dropping 72%, for waiters plunging 85% and for cooks declining 74%, the think-tank said.
Similar to the previous two months, the occupations that are exempt from these dramatic trends are those involved in providing aid in relation to the pandemic and the 5.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Zagreb in March.
Thus, demand for bricklayers rose 57% on the year in May, demand for nurses was up 46%, while demand for doctors and dentists increased 21%.
OVI is a monthly index of online job advertisements developed by the EIZ in cooperation with the web portal MojPosao.