The Occupational training without commencing employment is a traineeship scheme (on-the job training) which has been created in order to include more young people in the labour market. 

It is relevant to Guideline 6 of the Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States 2015: Enhancing labour supply, skills and competences, as well as for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

The status of young people (aged 15-24) on the Croatian labour market has continued to improve. The youth unemployment rate further decreased from 50.1% in Q4/2014 to 43.8% in Q4/2015. The unemployment ration in the total population of young people fell from 17.6% to 15.8%. The general unemployment rate has also declined by more than two percentage points during the same period (from 18.3% down to 16.1%). 

The NEET rate is currently available only at the annual level, and LFS data indicating a decrease in 2015 (18.5%) compared with 2014 (19.3%).

Young people with the lowest level of education have the highest probability of being unemployed. In 2015, the unemployment rate for young people with less than primary, primary and lower secondary education was 48.4%, for those with upper secondary school education the rate was 43.6% and for young people with tertiary education this rate was at 30.1%. 

Young people who are looking for employment are characterised by a lack of work experience. At the same time, work experience is a requirement that many employers are looking for when hiring. This presents a substantive obstacle for young people entering the labour market which makes them particularly vulnerable.

Occupational training without commencing employment is therefore designed for young people who have no work-experience related to their profession. The measure has been created in order to provide young people not only with relevant work experience, but also with a learning environment, which increases their chances for integration in the labour market after the completion of training.

The aim of the scheme is to provide a young person with the opportunity to acquire first work experience in order to be more easily integrated into the labour market.

The main goal is to ensure internships, traineeships and work practice for young unemployed persons. This programme ensures work practice and experience for those who are obligated to take a licensing, state, master, or chamber exam and for highly educated unemployed persons who have had no more than one year of working experience in their occupation. The programme duration is from 12 months up to a maximum of 36 months. This is one of the most important measures for the school-to-work transitions. The programme supports unemployed people without work experience in their occupational field, allowing them to gain the experience and skills necessary for future employment. It also activates and integrates people on the labour market.

The benefits are gaining work experience necessary for the full integration on the labour market and upskilling in a real workplace environment

The employers interested in the participation in this measure must publish a vacancy. Interested candidates either apply to the vacancy, or they are suggested to the employer by the CES. Unemployed persons who lack work experience in their occupation are informed about this measure by CES. 
The employer selects the most suitable candidates and the CES must check if the selected candidates meet all the necessary requirements for the participation in the measure. After the completion of the selection procedure, the employer submits a formal application for the participation in the measure. The employers are also required to create an occupational training programme that must be relevant to the candidate’s acquired occupation, and submit it with their application. 

After that, CES decides, based on the programme and other formal criteria, whether the application meets all the criteria and they either reject it or accept it. The contract is signed between the CES, the participant and the employer and the program begins. 

Occupational training is conducted at the employer`s workplace. The employer provides a mentor for the participant, and receives reimbursement of mandatory monthly contributions for pension and health insurance, while the participant receives financial support, not a salary, and travel expenses compensation from the CES.

Target groups 

This measure is targeted at young unemployed persons up to the age of 30 years, registered with the CES for at least 30 days, who have less than a year’s work experience in their occupation or who do not have any work experience at all.

The main goal of the measure is to provide opportunities for individuals without any or no adequate work experience in their line of work/occupation to gain practical experience, improve their knowledge and skills and gain work history to increase their competitiveness on the labour market. This goal has been achieved for the majority of participants. Over 80% of users have completed the occupational training in an occupation that matches their education. 9 out of 10 users who had entered the measure with the goal of achieving prerequisites for taking licensing exams have achieved that goal upon exiting the measure. There are several phenomenon noticed, i.e. deadweight; cream skimming; “exclusivity” on internship and financial dependence. Improvements are therefore possible in limiting and reducing the volume of the measure to reduce negative macro-effects; stricter restrictions on number of users per one employer; increasing supervision of mentoring processes and content of work and introducing different fees according to education levels.

Data on the participants who started their occupational training without commencing employment during 2011 and finished during 2012 show that 61.3% of them were employed in the course of 12 months after finishing the occupational training.

Data also show that 65.7% of participants in the private sector get employed within a year after completion of the occupational training. An increased private sector involvement is expected and a resulting wider application of this measure in the private sector.

The medium-term probability of employment increases for approximately 40% of participants entering the measure.

In 2015, there were 18,597 new entrants to the measure. Compared with the starting year of 2010 this represents a significant increase (by 13,344 participants).

The total number of participants in 2015 was 32,494 while the target value for new entrants was 15,000.