OVI for March 2019: Preparations for the tourist season boost the labor market

April 3, 2019

In March 2019, OVI rose by 7.1 percent compared to March 2018, while the average index value in the first three months of this year recorded a 5.8 percent growth compared to the first quarter of 2018. Although the index growth rates on an annual level are considerably lower compared to the same period last year (the average index value in the first quarter of 2018 recorded a 29.5 percent growth compared to the first quarter of 2017), OVI still suggests a continued growth in labor demand on an annual level, which has been lasting since autumn 2013. In addition, seasonally adjusted index values also indicate a mild growth in labor demand on a monthly level, considering that OVI grew by 1.9 percent in March compared to February, and by 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the last quarter of 2018. It seems that, after a slowdown at the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019, preparations for the upcoming tourist season have boosted the labor market and increased labor demand.

The most sought-after occupations in the first quarter of this year were sales assistants, cooks, waiters, drivers and hotel/hospitality staff. However, compared to the same period last year, demand for cooks and waiters dropped by 12.2 and 4.5 percent, respectively, while demand for hotel/hospitality staff (hotel workers, receptionists, managers etc.) rose by just over 34 percent compared to the first quarter of 2018. The largest positive contribution to the 5.8 percent total year-on-year index growth in the first quarter of 2019 came from job openings for hotel/hospitality staff (0.8 percentage points), followed by job openings in finances (0.5 percentage points), and repairs and maintenance (0.5 percentage points). On the other hand, the largest negative contribution to the labor demand annual growth rate in the first quarter of 2019 came from job openings for cooks (-1 percentage point), bricklayers (-0.5 percentage points), and waiters (-0.4 percentage points).

 

What is OVI?

Online Vacancy Index (OVI) is a monthly index of online job advertisements developed by the Institute of Economics, Zagreb in cooperation with the web portal MojPosao. The index aims to provide timely information regarding current labor demands. OVI index is developed by means of simple enumeration of single new job advertisements whose application deadlines end within the same month for which the index is being calculated. Given that advertisements published by only one web portal are taken into account, the number of job advertisements is expressed as an index (with the base year being 2015). 

The index is to be interpreted in such a way that the values greater than 100 represent growth when compared to 2015, and accordingly, that the values less than 100 represent a decrease with respect to the base year. Index is seasonally adjusted using the X-12-ARIMA method.