The Institute for Development and Innovation, as part of the project “Labor mobility between Serbia and the Western Balkan countries – How to increase mobility?”, organized a round table on April 16 on the topic “How to increase mobility?”. Representatives of independent institutions, civil and business sectors discussed at the round table. A large number of topics and issues related to the improvement of labor migration in the territory of the Western Balkans were raised through the conversation.
The round table was opened by Ana Tomašević, the project manager, by presenting the project and its goals. Then Nebojša Novković, a researcher at the Institute for Development and Innovation, addressed the participants and presented the core conclusions of the analysis of the labor market in the Western Balkans; as well as the dynamics of labor migration and the specificity of the labor market of the Western Balkans.
The conclusion is that Serbia has a significant labor force deficit, and that this phenomenon is being solved mainly by employing foreign workers through temporary labor migration. The largest number of foreign workers is engaged in the construction sector. The educational level of employed workers primarily includes the third, fourth, and seventh degree, as well as low-skilled workers. The largest number of foreign workers comes from Russia – approximately 19,000 issued work permits, followed by China – approximately 11,000 issued work permits, from Turkey – 5,800, and India – approximately 3,000 issued work permits.
The participants of the round table agreed that the creation of a sustainable economic policy requires close cooperation between state institutions and expert organizations that deal with labor mobility as a specific area of interest.
The “Labor Mobility” project is being implemented with the support of the Open Society Foundation.
