President Milanović: Domestic workers should be paid more, labour shortage cannot be solved only by bringing in foreign workers

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today representatives of the Association of Foreign Investors in Croatia who presented to him the “2024 White Book”, a publication on the business and investment climate in Croatia, including includes proposals for its improvement. Attending the meeting with President Milanović were: the president of the Association and director of Dogus Group for Southeast Europe Burak  Baykan, the director of the Luger Recruitment Agency Nikolina Radić, the former president of the Association Mladen Fogec and the secretary general Tomislav Šlat.

This year’s “White Book” entitled “Konkurentnost Hrvatske nakon dovršetka procesa europskih integracija: novo poglavlje“ (Croatia’s competitiveness after the completion of the European integration process: a new chapter) identifies two key obstacles to faster economic growth in Croatia: first, is the labour shortage, and second, the need to increase the efficiency of the public administration and the spread of digitalization. Besides identifying the obstacles, the “White Book” contains 43 recommendations on how to remove key development restrictions in Croatia, which were also presented to President Milanović today.

The representatives of the Association said at the meeting that the companies gathered in the Association cannot be viewed as foreign. They were founded with foreign capital, but they are all Croatian companies that create jobs, create new value, contribute to exports and invest in research and development in Croatia, they emphasized.

In talking to the representatives of the Association of Foreign Investors, President Milanović pointed out that he, as president, “is interested in investments that will make Croatia a stronger country, i.e., make the Croatian economy stronger”. Since the “White Book” singled out the shortage of labour force as one of the key obstacles to faster economic growth, President Milanović warned that “domestic workers should be paid more”.

“Our people have given up on some jobs, but that is not a solution and we cannot come to terms with it. The solution is to increase the wages of the people who do these jobs. The labour shortage in Croatia cannot be solved only by bringing in foreign workers, but domestic workers should be paid more “, President Milanović warned.

The Association of Foreign Investors in Croatia founded eleven companies in January 2012 with the intention of starting a constructive dialogue with the Government and other stakeholders in Croatia on how to improve the unfavourable business climate.

Alongside President Milanović at the meeting was the Special Adviser to the President for the Economy Velibor Mačkić.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta