The Croatian government on Thursday increased this year's quotas for the employment of foreign workers by 3,269 and amended its previous decision, allowing hirings in the public service and state administration sectors for jobs involving EU funds.

The government increased the hiring quota for foreigners in the construction sector by 985, in the tourism sector by 270, the transport sector by 650, the food industry by 508, and the agriculture and forestry sectors by 747.

Croatia is seeing a record-breaking decline in the unemployment rate and a high employment rates, Labour and Pension System Minister Marko Pavic said.

Although the government advocates domestic labour and has already adopted a series of measures to that effect, there is still imbalance between supply and demand, which is why the government has decided to increase the hiring quota for foreign nationals, Pavic said.

“Currently there are 14,417 vacancies at the Employment Service that we cannot fill,” the minister said.

The government also approved the hiring of people in public service and state administration to work on the management, control and use of EU funds.

“This way we will ensure higher adaptability and speed up the hiring process in management, control and the use of EU funds,” said Minister for Public Administration Lovro Kuscevic.

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