In order to halt the further shedding of jobs and the closure of companies in the construction industry it is necessary to set forth projects whose implementation can start now or in the fourth quarter of this year at the latest, the Economy and Social Council concluded at its session on Friday when it discussed the situation in the construction sector.
Construction and Zoning Minister Ivan Vrdoljak said that only investments could reverse the negative trends in this sector.
He said that in 2001, 68,000 Croatians had jobs in the construction industry, and this number rose to 108,000 in 2008, only to drop to 83,000 in late 2011.
The minister said that currently everyone was waiting for the public sector to trigger off investments and that the private sector did not seem eager for now to make bigger investments. Therefore, investments could be expected in Q4, Vrdoljak pledged.
Some sectors have already announced their tenders and others will do that in the coming months, he added.
The leader of the trade union of building sector workers, Ivan Kovacevic, said that in the last four years this sector had shed 30,000 jobs, and an additional 5,000 had been lost in H1 2012.
Unless investments are launched, another 5,000 construction workers will be out of work, he warned, adding that the employment capacity in this sector currently stood at a mere 40 per cent.
The SSSH trade union leader Mladen Novosel recalled that the construction activity was the first sector to have been hit by the crisis.
Ivan Miloloza of the Croatian Employers' Association agreed that it was necessary to kick-start investments and urged the government to simplify procedures for issuance of licences and permits.
