The economy in Serbia is struggling with the lack of low-skilled and high-skilled workers to perform many jobs, and almost all industrial branches – construction, metal, textile, catering, chemical – are in trouble, Forbes Serbia announced.
Recently, the Republic Seismological Institute of Serbia was left without a single graduate geophysicist, there is a shortage of highly educated personnel such as civil engineers, it is not easy to find electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, technologists, commercialists, and warehouse workers, waiters, cooks, butchers, hygienists, construction workers, drivers are also missing. , craftsmen.
Analyzes by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce show that two-thirds of the economy’s needs for personnel relate to those with a high school diploma.
Mirjana Kovačević, head of the Center for Education, Dual Education and Educational Policies and Director of the PKS Business Academy, said that there were several reasons that contributed to the shortage of quality workforce.
– First of all, the main reason is demographic trends, the departure of our citizens abroad, but also the population’s lack of interest in performing certain jobs – Kovačević told Forbes Serbia.
She pointed out that highly qualified personnel are of greater importance for the advancement of not only individual companies, but the economy as a whole, compared to low-skilled workforce.
– The shortage of personnel is a common problem of a large number of countries, and the solution for performing certain tasks will certainly be sought in the increasing application of digitization and artificial intelligence, and more qualified personnel will adapt better and faster to these advanced technological solutions – said Kovačević.
Jelena Žarković, professor of the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, said that the key reform, which the government should undertake, should be aimed specifically at the field of education.
She reminded that in 2018 there was a sudden drop in the enrollment of students at faculties that educate educational staff, and she added that this drop is now greater.
– We don’t have teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and that is extremely important for the country’s economy in the medium and long term. Who will educate our children tomorrow, who will work in secondary and primary schools? This implies a focused reform of those teaching majors at the faculties – Žarković pointed out.
She added that the problem with the lack of higher education personnel also arose due to uneven regional distribution. As an example, she stated that the representatives of the Government indicated the original idea, that the company Kontinental (Continental Automotive Serbia) should open a plant in Niš, but that there were not enough professional staff there, so they decided on Novi Sad.
– This is precisely the consequence of our internal migrations, because then in the poorest parts of Serbia, in the south and east, you generally find staff with lower qualifications, because the highly educated flock to bigger cities and those regions are empty – said Živković and added that she sees the solution in the long term strategy and planning, but also cooperation between university centers and the economy.
She also pointed out the problem of overqualification, because it happens that for some jobs a staff with higher qualifications applies and then is forced to work for less money in a job that is not his profession.
The former president of the Union of Educators, Jasna Janković, estimated that the shortage of staff was caused by decades of carelessness about education and staff, not only when it comes to salaries but also working conditions.
Janković reminded that this year only one candidate applied for teaching physics, and that there have not been enough chemistry and mathematics teachers for years.
– So now it happens that mathematics is taught in 40% of cases by someone who graduated from a university where mathematics was a subject, and not someone who graduated from the Faculty of Science and Mathematics – she said.
In Belgrade, she added, this problem is not felt as much as in the interior of Serbia, precisely because more and more young people are leaving for bigger cities.
She cited another example in education (where she no longer works, after May 3), where a few years ago programming was introduced as a subject from the fifth grade, without taking into account that there were not enough IT experts to teach classes. .
– Why would someone who graduates from that faculty work in a school for 70,000 or 80,000 dinars when they can work as a programmer for 250,000 dinars? – pointed out Janković and added that it is clear that such a complex problem cannot be solved overnight, but that a longer-term plan is needed.
Dragoljub Rajić from the Business Support Network pointed out that a complete change of the education system is needed and that all those who want to perform lower-skilled jobs should go to practice as early as possible – already at the end of elementary school or at the beginning of high school.
Rajić added that the economic development model of Serbia needs to be examined and that an environment has not been created for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises that should retain our people so that they do not leave the country.
– We must have stable small and medium-sized enterprises that will provide them with stimulating conditions, and not place our hopes in the first foreign investor – said Rajić for Forbes.