engleski

Migration and long-term care workforce in Croatia

Due to the accelerated population ageing in Croatia accompanied by a decline in the number of potential family care providers (as a result of smaller family size, an increasing divorce rate and number of single-person households, as well as growing employment of women and emigration), the demand for formal long-term care (LTC) is very likely to go up. According to the Eurobarometer survey on health and LTC, a half of Croatian citizens considers it difficult to gain access to care services for dependent people in their home, and even more difficult in nursing homes. Furthermore, around two thirds regard these services as unaffordable. However, an additional problem is the growing formal LTC workforce shortage. The caregiver profession is physically and mentally demanding and at the same time not adequately paid, thus characterized by high turnover and migration. The goal of this paper is to explore available data on Croatian LTC workforce: size, wages, working conditions and migration trends. Potential measures look at improving inflow and retention of LTC workers. Special attention is given to the fact that the Croatian government, in its ‘Decision on establishing the yearly quota of permits for hiring foreigners in 2019', for the first time included personal carers and nurses.

long-term care ; Croatia ; migration

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