The labour market has shortages in two directions. The first is certainly the it field, while the second encompasses semi-skilled occupations where the workers required for many positions are virtually non-existent. And this has led to the importing of labour, primarily from Asia and Africa. This situation is currently most noticeable when it comes to delivery services.
Over the past 10 years, under the influence of digitalisation, Serbia’s labour market has changed rapidly. Various situations and trends, but also new generations, impacted on the emergence of new occupations, but also the slow “die out” of old occupations. The situation with the pandemic has accelerated the digitalisation process even further, thus imposing mandatory qualifications that candidates are expected to possess, such as basic digital literacy.
On the other hand, the labour market that used to have a high level of unemployment now has shortages in two directions. The first is certainly the IT field, which has had a problem with personnel shortages for years, particularly mid-level and senior personnel, while the second direction encompasses semi-skilled occupations, such as crafts, where the workers required for many positions are virtually non-existent. Here we are mostly talking about construction and hospitality professions, but also jobs like car mechanics, plumbers, hairdressers and even warehouse workers.
A devastating statistic is that as many as 83% of respondents in a joint undpinfostud survey are considering moving abroad, though the positive aspect of this story is that only 23% of them are actively working on doing so
Such a situation has started leading employers to import labour, primarily from Asia and Africa, in order to meet their staffing needs. This situation is currently most noticeable when it comes to delivery services. In parallel with this, the IT industry is also turning to foreign countries in response to its inability to identify high-quality personnel (most commonly senior staff), so in recent years there has been ever more discussion of digital nomads as a potential solution. According to research conducted by the Digital Serbia Initiative, although Belgrade tops the list of European cities where digital nomads stay, it is necessary to work on creating better conditions to entice as many digital nomads as possible.
When it comes to circular migration, research conducted earlier this year by UNDP and Infostud, via a survey and analysis of job advertisements, yielded the devastating statistic that as many as 83% of respondents are considering moving abroad, though the positive aspect of this story is that only 23% of them are actively working on doing so. On the other hand, something that we can still see as a positive aspect is that young people stressed that they would only go abroad to study, after which they would return to apply all the knowledge they’ve acquired on our market. Most of those who would leave the country permanently are people who are already active on the Serbian labour market and have amassed more than 10 years of work experience.
