Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy Jovan Krkobabic said today that the domestic employment strategy should be harmonised with European standards while at the same time taking into account Serbia’s particularities.
Speaking at the conference “Preparing the labour market institutions of Serbia for the European Employment Strategy” held at the Palace of Serbia, organised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the EU Delegation to Serbia, Krkobabic said that the EU has launched a two-year twinning project, worth €2 million, which should make the employment policy in Serbia more efficient.
He said that under this project, experts from France, Romania and Sweden will assist their colleagues in Serbia from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the National Employment Agency to improve knowledge and skills for a more efficient implementation of the national employment policy.
Serbia has over 700,000 unemployed and its unemployment rate is among highest in Europe.
Special attention should be paid to the employment of young people, women for whom it is more difficult to find a job than for men, people aged between 50 and 60 who were left jobless in the process of privatisation and to social entrepreneurship, Krkobabic noted.
Also, he underlined that the Serbian government is resolved to stop the negative trend of drop in employment rate and citizens’ standard of living by the end of the year and voiced his hope that a number of projects will be launched next year that will require more workforce, such as the Corridor, Belgrade ring road, construction of the Obrenovac thermal power station and the Morava hydroelectric power station.
There is also the Chinese project of construction of the Kostolac thermal power station and one more project, still only an idea, in which the Chinese expressed interest. It is the project of construction of a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station on the Danube river, on Djerdap, Krkobabic added.
According to him, a number of people will be hired in agriculture, in which considerable resources will be invested, while several thousand underprivileged and disabled people will be employed through social entrepreneurship.
Director of the National Employment Service Dejan Jovanovic said that 750,000 unemployed people are registered there and specified that the unemployment rate in Serbia is around 25%.
This is about the same level as last year in this same period, Jovanovic said, stressing that the new employment is possible through active measures of employment and investment attraction.
Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Adriano Martins pointed out that policy makers, both European and national, must encourage job creation through a series of policy measures such as tax breaks, subsidies and other.
Martins recalled that the project that has been presented today is a donation of the EU and that similar projects were implemented by EU member states too.
According to him, the objective of the twinning project is that employment policies in Serbia are made closer to EU standards, by adapting strategies and job creation through training of personnel at the local level and by assisting in adoption and implementation of plans for employment.
He expressed belief that Serbia will definitely learn a lot from the experience of France, Sweden, and especially Romania in implementing active labour market policy measures.
French Ambassador to Serbia Francois-Xavier Deniau warned that the context of encouraging employment, due to the economic crisis, is extremely degraded and that the general question is how to create jobs.
Speaking on employment in France, which has changed significantly in recent years, Deniau said that it is essential to adapt the labour market to reality.
As for Serbia, the French Ambassador expressed the belief that it will be able to draw great benefit from participation in this project and from the general adaptation of strategies of European countries, which will result in the improvement of the living conditions of Serbian citizens.
Expressing satisfaction for attending the presentation of the project, which involved his country, Ambassador of Romania to Serbia Daniel Banu stressed the importance of creating the basis of employment policy that is tailored to real circumstances and reinforcing such policies at the local level.
He recalled that Romania has experience in economic and social transition in the integration process, and therefore can help Serbia in accordance with the European strategies, emphasising the importance of modernising the legal framework.
I hope that this project will bring the expected results and bring Serbia closer to the EU, said Banu.
Source Serbia Gov.
