The coronavirus pandemic has changed a lot in the society and economy of the whole world this year, and the crisis that has occurred because of that is still not calming down. On the contrary.
Practically, the economy was stopped in almost all countries or at least slowed down, and almost without exception in all countries, including Serbia, programs of measures to help the economy were launched, which aimed to overcome the situation as painlessly as possible. It has largely succeeded in that, but now the danger of this virus is great again, and many countries, in an attempt to stop its spread, as in the spring, have slowed down the economy.
How long the danger of coronavirus will last, no one dares to predict, but it will certainly have a further negative impact on the economy and, of course, employees, so, according to the president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Vojvodina Goran Milic, the state should help the economy, account should be taken of which sectors and how support is provided.
Of course, the state must do something and find a way to help workers and the economy so that we do not all sink, says Milic.
However, our interlocutor adds, “it should not be as it was, but it should be selective, that is, not everyone and not everyone equally.”
Not all sectors of the economy should receive the same support, but it should be aimed at maintaining production and preserving jobs. The situation with the coronavirus has caused great losses in certain sectors of the economy, such as catering, tourism, and hotel industry, which were the first to be hit, but they are not the only ones. Certainly the most affected is the real sector, which creates new value and raises the country’s economy. That is why we need to find a model that will provide support to small and medium enterprises to maintain, maintain production and retain workers, says Milic.
He points out that, due to the slowdown in economic activities, many jobs are endangered, that many employees lost their jobs and that the position of workers, which was difficult even before the crisis caused by the coronavirus, is now extremely bad.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Goran Milic points out, the purchasing power of the citizens of Serbia was modest, and the salaries of a large number of employees were not enough even for basic needs.
About 20 percent of the total number of employees earned less than the amount needed for the minimum consumer basket, and the salary of about half of the workers is lower than the average salary in the republic, ie they received medial salary, and about 70 percent of employees have income lower than the average consumer basket and these data speak for themselves, Milic emphasized.
In Serbia, until the beginning of the crisis, about 350,000 employees received a minimum wage, and now the situation is much worse because it is estimated that about 500,000 lost their jobs. The results of Secons’ research show that during the coronavirus pandemic, about 200,000 people lost their jobs, which is a huge number. I emphasize that it is not that these workers were fired, but it refers to many other categories of employees – the self-employed, those who do housework, those who worked without registration…and all of them were left without any income. Unfortunately, the estimates of economic analysts are not encouraging either, because they indicate that, due to the coronavirus pandemic, at least another 100,000 will lose their jobs, Milic points out.
According to him, it is uncertain whether all existing jobs will be retained and how many people will lose their jobs, although according to official data, Serbia has the lowest unemployment rate.
There has been little growth in public sector employment recently as about 1,500 health workers have found jobs. It is necessary to save jobs because it is good for the state and for the economy and for the workers and for the future because the data show that out of the total population of Serbia, about seven percent are absolutely poor, and about 1.6 million citizens or 23.2 percent is at risk of poverty, Milic points out, Dnevnik reports.
