November 5, 2024
In October, the OVI index fell by -7.2 percent on an annual level, which is the third consecutive month that the index has been falling. Seasonally adjusted figures also show that the OVI index has decreased, by -1.8 percent compared to the previous month, after a 2.2 percent growth in September and a cumulative drop of -2.1 percent in July and August. Considering such a start to the last quarter of the year, we can expect the entire 2024 year to end in the red, i.e., with a decreased demand on the labor market compared to 2023. In the first 10 months of this year, the index dropped by -3.8 percent in total compared to the same period last year.
Compared to October 2023, the occupations of salesperson, teacher, warehouse worker, and waiter remained among the five most sought-after occupations, but bookkeepers pushed out cooks and came in fourth on the list. The largest drop among the most sought-after occupations was recorded for telecommunications staff, who fell from 18th to 25th place, while the biggest growth was recorded for professors, who jumped from 33rd place a year ago to 17th place in October 2024. The biggest contribution to the job advertisement growth rate came from advertisements for professors and nurses (a total of 1.5 percentage points), while the biggest negative contribution came from advertisements for cooks, waiters, construction workers, telecommunications staff, and hotel/hospitality staff (a total of -3.6 percentage points).
The share of job advertisements seeking secondary level of education fell by -0.8 percentage points to 55.6 percent over the year, while, at the same time, those requiring higher levels of education increased by 1.5 percentage points to 31.5 percent. Most job advertisements (57.5 percent) offered permanent employment, rising by 6.3 percentage points compared to October 2023. All regions except the southern Adriatic recorded a decrease in the number of job advertisements on an annual level in October, with central Croatia recording the biggest drop, by as much as -9.3 percent, while the southern Adriatic recorded an 18.1 percent growth. The biggest contribution to the drop in number of job advertisements in central Croatia came from advertisements for cooks, teachers, and construction workers, while the biggest contribution to the growth in number of job advertisements in the southern Adriatic came from advertisements for teachers, professors, and nurses.