The high unemployment rate among young people in most Croatian counties shows how difficult it is for them to enter the labour market, according to a survey on the positions of young job-seekers and employers.
The survey was conducted as part of "Young People on the Labour Market", a project implemented by the Croatian Employment Service in cooperation with the German company GOPA Consultants, as part of the European Union's IPA pre-accession assistance programme.
About 1,500 job-seekers aged 15-24 and 282 employers were interviewed in eight counties with a pronounced problem in the employment of the young.
Unemployment among young people is one of the biggest problems on the Croatian labour market. Their unemployment rate in 2009 was 25 per cent, much higher than the EU average of 19.6 per cent, a presentation of the survey findings heard on Monday.
Job-seekers aged 15-24 have relatively low expectations of the pay amount, between HRK 2,500 and 3,755, depending on the region.
They feel that employers value experience more than education and highlight work experience as the main obstacle to entering the labour market. They feel that employers value reliability, responsibility and motivation the most.
On the other hand, employers feel the biggest obstacles to employing young people are high taxes and contributions as well as insufficient financial incentives from the state.
One-third of employers are satisfied with the knowledge and competence of young people, but most feel that job-seekers have too much theoretical and too little practical knowledge.
