Source: Biznis.rs
The latest data from the Republic Statistical Office (RZS) show that in the second quarter of this year, there were 2,876,600 employed and 306,000 unemployed persons in Serbia. According to the RZS Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate was 9.6 percent, which is 0.7 percentage points higher than in the same period last year, while the employment rate was 50.4 percent, which is an increase of 0.5 percent.
Regardless of the large number of unemployed people in Serbia, as well as in most of Europe, there is a shortage of labor on the labor market.
There are numerous economic branches in which there is a shortage of workers, especially skilled labor. Employers point out that the deficit has significantly affected the construction industry, where there is a shortage of construction workers, craftsmen of all kinds, and in some parts also construction engineers.
When it comes to the most sought-after occupations, the National Employment Service states that for years the greatest demand has been for IT specialists, primarily programmers, then engineers in the fields of construction, mechanical engineering, electronics, electrical engineering, but also for pharmacists, economists, doctors with specializations, professors English, German, mathematics, physics…
For a long time now, it has been difficult to find butchers, bakers and similar professions that are needed by craft shops as well as large retail chains. There is a significant number of drivers missing, which can also be seen in passenger traffic, where a significant number of elderly people, and occasionally foreign nationals, are employed.
Employees are hard to find for everyone who works in the catering and hotel sector, regardless of whether they are cooks, waiters, support staff, or maids. These sectors are in a particularly difficult situation, as they have been under the brunt of the pandemic and closures for a long time, as a result of which existing staff have left their jobs, and often the entire industry.
There is also a noticeable lack of different IT personnel, especially in companies that do not belong to the IT industry itself. Namely, these experts are needed by all other companies that have their own technology departments, or banks that have complex computer systems, and are not competitors of startups and IT companies.
Research findings by Wouter Zwysen point to the need to increase collective bargaining and improve wages and working conditions, as well as workers’ skills, if Europe is to put an end to labor shortages.
Employers, especially in certain sectors, say that they cannot pay workers the wages they are in some other countries, both because of the crisis and because of the high levies that are paid even on the minimum wage.
“On the one hand, we have an increase in wages, which, if we look at the minimum wage in the previous five years, increased from 26,000 to more than 40,000 dinars. The average salary, which was around 50,000 dinars five years ago, has now exceeded 85,000. If we add to that a higher turnover of employees, which are all the additional costs for the employer, and all the additional measures to keep the workers in the workplace, it is clear that labor costs are incomparably higher than they were a year, two or five years ago. they point out from the Union of Employers of Serbia.
Our interlocutors state that the solutions to prevent the departure, but also large fluctuations of employees, are the building of long-term good relations that will be based on trust between the employer and the employee.
“What employers should do, and we believe that most of them do, is to carefully monitor the needs of workers and do everything to meet them. On the one hand, this means certain financial expenses, but according to all the research we have, it means even more that a positive and motivating atmosphere is being built, because it is – according to the employees themselves – the most important thing that makes them decide to stay in one company. Research shows us that the working atmosphere and the general environment in the company for the employee are in the first place, and the salary is the second”, UPS points out.
One of the solutions to the problem of labor shortage is the arrival of foreigners who are willing to do jobs that are less well paid.
“Hiring foreigners can solve the problem only temporarily. The goal should be to adapt as many domestic workers as possible to the needs of the labor market. Good ways to do that are retraining and dual education,” UPS points out.