Croatian workers are now equal to the rest of the European Union citizens and they no longer need to obtain work permits in order to work in Slovenia. Croatian citizens needed to wait for several months in order to obtain such permits, complained Mate Matjaž, hotelier and caterer from Portorož, who employs workers from even more distant countries.
Slovenian turism is one of the largest employers of Croatian workers. However, because those are needed in Croatia as well, Slovenian employers have a hard time getting those workers to work for them. The employment facilitation of Croatian citizens is, because of significant manpower shortage, a positive thing for Slovenian economy, says Robert Rakar, the director of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Primorska. "Without enough workers, the job simply cannot be done. If the economy needs a workforce, it needs to find a way to get it."
At the end of last year, there were slightly more than 6,300 Croatian citizens working in Slovenia, which represents one-tenth of all foreign active citizens in Slovenia.