Government's funding earmarked for encouraging employment this year totals 2.5 billion kuna (€339 million), which is more than ever before, Labour Minister Marko Pavic said on Monday in the coastal city of Sibenik, where he attended a conference presenting nine measures of the Get a Job in Croatia campaign.
The main goal of these measures is to allow employers to get the work force they need in a fas and efficient way, and to increase competitiveness in the labour market, by making sure that everyone in the labour market has access to information about legal procedures, subsidies and incentives in one place.
“There was never more funding allocated to employment than this year – we have set aside 2.5 billion kuna (€339 million), including 1.6 billion (€217 million) for active employment measures, and 900 million kuna from the European Social Fund,” Pavic said.
He added that measures to encourage self-employment have been expanded, which resulted in more young people opening their businesses over the first four months of 2018 than in the entire year before.
Another measure, which allows on-the-job training will give an opportunity to those with only high school degrees to get a job in manufacturing and quality mentors to guide them. This measure aims to activate domestic labour force, with imported workers filling up jobs we cannot fill ourselves, he said.
Pavic said the goal of his tour around the country was to inform employers on how to best use government measures.
He also said that the government intended to ensure that the salaries would rise as well. By implementing a tax reform and decreasing the tax burden to the economy, and especially in the tourist industry, the salaries increased, Pavic said.
“By expanding collective agreements, in the construction and tourism sectors average salaries increased by 6 percent, as well as for civil servants. We really want for net salaries to continue growing, and that will be the goal of this government’s policies,” Pavic said.
(€1 = 7.37 kuna)
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