The labor market in Serbia will not be able to support large projects in the next few years, such as the construction of the national stadium, the new Belgrade Fair and the infrastructure for the specialized exhibition EXPO 2027.
These projects, which will cost the state 12 billion euros, mostly from loans, as stated, will not be threatened because it relies on foreign companies and the import of labor.
The solution to the labor shortage is foreign workers, which was facilitated by the adoption of a new law that shortened and simplified the procedure for obtaining work permits, of which 13,000 were issued in 2020, then 25,000 were issued in 2021 and 35,000 in 2022, and it is estimated that this the number will be doubled by the end of this year.
The majority of workers are engaged in construction, where it is estimated that out of the 170,000 employees, a third are foreigners, followed by agriculture, and there are many undeclared seasonal workers.
“In addition to the previously present workers from Bosnia and Montenegro, the emphasis has been on those from Southeast Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka for some time,” Mihail Arandarenko, a professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Economics, said.
He explained that the influx of foreigners is also favored by the strong growth trend of Euro-salaries in Serbia, and added that the experiences with foreign workers are contradictory, from assessments that they are unreliable and leave their jobs easily to claims that some of them are cruelly exploited and disenfranchised.
“Serbia loses 50,000 potential employees every year.” Namely, the 65-year-old category, which numbers 120,000 people, retires, while those aged 20, who enter the labor market, number only about 70,000,” said Arandarenko.
He estimated that Serbia will increasingly face labor shortages, which is a consequence of “hydraulics”, because people from Serbia are drawn by the developed West, and Serbia draws those it can, from nearer or further destinations.
The president of the Construction Workers’ Union Saša Torlaković said that dumping prices under the pressure of foreign workers is one of the biggest problems, which is why the unions often reacted.
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