The Serbian government has successfully curbed the “spread of poverty” in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic with “the most generous and comprehensive economic package of measures among the economies of the Western Balkans”, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) concluded.
The government provided “the most generous and powerful financial assistance measures” in the form of employment subsidies, which for micro, small and medium enterprises amounted to about 65 percent of their total labor costs, according to a statement from the EBRD on the results of the study.
The coronavirus pandemic, it is added, hit micro enterprises in Serbia the hardest and led to a reduction in the number of working hours by 14.8 percent during the second quarter of 2020, which is equivalent to the loss of 510,000 full-time jobs.
It is noted that shorter working hours and forced vacation programs in the conditions of company closure due to the pandemic have significantly contributed to that.
If the health crisis continues and employment programs cease, more than 700,000 workers in the wholesale and retail trade, housing, transport, services, forestry and logging, crop and livestock production could be at immediate risk of unemployment.
Of this total workforce, nearly 314,000 are self-employed, and over 267,000 are workers in the informal economy.
The report states that the corona crisis in Serbia has hit micro-enterprises the hardest, employing more than 735,000 workers, as more than one of the four companies in that category has completely ceased operations.
The report welcomes “almost universal support (from the Government of Serbia) to companies and citizens”, and at the same time offers five preliminary recommendations for further policy.
It recommends a more selective and targeted approach in providing support to the most vulnerable citizens, finding solutions to support a large number of circular and seasonal workers, mitigating the less visible social costs of the pandemic, optimizing the new youth employment program in Serbia and using social dialogue more consistently and efficiently, RTS reports.
