The need for seasonal workers in Croatia

The pandemic has reduced the demand for labor in Croatia, but still tourism and gastronomy need seasonal workers. Before the summer season, Croatian portals are looking for chefs and hotel workers.

"Seasonal workers from Serbia have invaded Croatia!"This was a bombastic headline in the Croatian media exactly two years ago, when Croatia had 5 times more tourists than residents. Certainly in such conditions, when Croatian tourism got so boosted, even the need for labor from abroad was great. The pandemic has meanwhile slowed this pace, but even this summer Croatia will hire seasonal workers. One of them is Aleksandar Simic from Belgrade, which of 20 years cooks everywhere in the kitchens of the world.

But the pandemic has closed many roads. Alexander will spend this summer next door, Croatia, in the kitchen of the restaurant in Promajna, a coastal area near Split. Good working conditions and fluency in communication make him hopeful, that this was the right decision. The beginning is hopeful. ”My employer is great, and I can not complain, everything he has promised he has kept until now. The kitchen is modern and new, which matters at work. The team that has come here to work is good, most come from Belgrade ", says Aleksandar Simić.

Croats go to work in the west, easterners come to croatia

Last summer was the worst for Alexander. Because of the lockdown in Serbia, he had to stay home. But even the need for seasonal labor in Croatia was smaller than usual. In the previous year, the ‘normal’ year before the pandemic, the Croatian economy needed 30.000 laborers. Even the year 2020 started well, in the first two months were required 11.000 laborers, but then the pandemic also engulfed Croatia.

But hopes for this season are high. Shortly before its start, you can find job postings in Croatia again online. This place currently needs chefs, waiters or hotel employees.

Hrvoje Tomas, restaurant manager looking for workers, and is aware that this problem does not only affect Croatia. "In tourism but also in gastronomy throughout the European Union there is a lack of labor. That is why it is hiring more and more often from Eastern Europe. We also hire people, who know how to do the job well and who are not yet oriented towards the western labor market ", says Hrvoje Thomas.

Preference for workers from neighboring countries

But many Croats have been heading west for some time. In the years before the pandemic they were gone 40.000 itself per year from Croatia, most to Germany. This is also one of the reasons why, in Croatia there are many seasonal workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chuang, Albania, or Serbia. A restaurant team from Serbia settled on the restaurant in Promajna, ALTHOUGH, according to them, manpower from Romania and Bulgaria could also be obtained. Hrvoje Thomas explains the reasons. "They know our cuisine and it is easier to communicate and work with other forces coming from the east of the EU."

Belgrade's Alexander, however, is pleased, with the reception they made on the Croatian shores. "We are treated very well by the locals, From all, with those we have had contact with. So far we have not had any problems ", says Aleksandar Simić. Now everyone is ready to receive tourists. /dw