A growing number of foreign workers are coming to work in the north of Croatia as local metal, manufacturing and construction companies have difficulty finding labour on the domestic market, Vecernji List daily said on Tuesday.

Workers are coming from the Philippines, Ukraine, Nepal, India and elsewhere and there are already so many of them that there is a shortage of accommodation for them. They are staying in hotels, holiday apartments or rented accommodation, the newspaper said.

In the Medjimurje region, more and more old and renovated houses in which no one has lived for years are being rented. A 200 square metre house is rented to four persons for HRK 3,200 (€425) a month, or HRK 800 (€105) per person.

“We have been well received. We don’t go out much. After work, we go to our flat and watch television. Sometimes we go to the lake or to the nearest cafe for a cup of coffee,” says a Ukrainian who has found a job in the catering industry. He shares the rent with a workmate, and earns twice as much as he would in Ukraine. He plans on going to Germany one day.

“There are almost no young workers available on the domestic market, notably in occupations such as bricklayers, carpenters or rebar workers. These occupations are dying out in this region,” a CEO was quoted as saying.

The question of whether an inclusive centre should be opened has been raised in Varazdin County. The county’s head, Andjelko Stricak, said that the local economy would have difficulty functioning without foreign labour and that the foreign nationals living and working in the region should be looked after.

Nearly 57,000 work and residence permits have been issued to foreign nationals in Croatia this year, the newspaper said.