The Online Vacancy Index (OVI) for January 2022 shows continued strong demand for labour as the index increased by 91% from January 2021, according to data from the Zagreb Institute of Economics (EIZ).

“The new year is starting with good news from the labour market because a strong labour demand, in line with trends in the past few months, is still being recorded, despite the pandemic challenges and high numbers of people infected with the coronavirus,” the EIZ said on its website.

In January 2022, labour demand was 91% higher than in January 2021. “It should, however, be kept in mind that labour demand in January 2021 was limited due to economic and social restrictions imposed with the goal of containing the pandemic,” EIZ analysts said.

Compared with the pre-pandemic periods, labour demand in January 2022 was 27% and 28% higher than in January 2020 and January 2019 respectively.

The most sought-after occupations in January this year were salesperson, cook, waiter, warehouse worker and bookkeeper. 45% of job advertisements offered contracts for permanent employment, while 46% of advertisements offered contracts for fixed-term employment. Some 2.3% of advertisements mentioned the option of working from home, which is higher than in previous months. 2.9% of advertisements targeted pensioners, which is in line with the trend of higher demand for pensioners in the past months.

The OVI is a monthly index of online job advertisements developed by the EIZ in cooperation with the MojPosao job search website to provide timely information on current labour demand.