Interdependence of the Demographic Characteristics of the Emigrant Population and the Labour System of the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

The labour system of the Republic of Croatia has long ceased to function in support of the Croatian economy. In addition to unfavourable indicators of natural population change, this situation has been significantly aggravated by the intensive emigration of Croatia’s population following its accession to the European Union. In the absence of measures aimed at retaining the population within the country, Croatia is facing a shortage of workers in certain professions, which is being compensated by foreign labour. The analysis conducted in this paper confirms that the demographic characteristics of the
population immigrating to Croatia are considerably less favourable than those of the emigrants. This represents another dimension of the free movement of labour, which has
been generating increasing developmental disparities among different parts of Europe. Countries confronted with these trends must therefore place human capital at the core of all development policies, as population outflows affect all public systems that directly depend on the demographic structure of the population. The aim of this paper is to determine the interdependence of the demographic characteristics of the emigrant contingent and the labour system of the Republic of Croatia.