Youth employment measures 

Different youth employment policies in Serbia focus on several key measures:

• Public youth employment services (such as National Employment Service);
• trainings for young people;
• encouraging the employment of young people through tax relief;
• direct creation of new jobs for young people;
• active labour market measures for young people;
• active labour market measures for persons with disabilities.

These policies, as further grouped in the research findings Youth and Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Serbia, can be divided into three major categories:

1. active measures and programs on the labour market aimed at improving the labour supply (additional education and training for young people);
2. measures to stimulate labour demand (stimulating employment, subsidies, etc.);
3. measures aimed at improving the functionality of the labour market (information, career guidance, entrepreneurial counseling, business guidance, business plans, etc.)

The Youth Strategy 2023-2030 (Strategija za mlade) focuses on implementing Measure 4.3, which addresses support for entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and youth employability. With youth unemployment at 21.5% in Serbia, efforts are underway to enhance young people's positions in the labor market, particularly through initiatives like youth entrepreneurship. The Government of the Republic of Serbia collaborates with business and non-governmental sectors to implement systemic measures, providing ongoing support for youth entrepreneurship. A significant portion of the Ministry of Tourism and Youth annual funds, approximately 40%, is dedicated to projects aimed at promoting the employability and self-employment of young people, reflecting the government's commitment to addressing youth employment challenges.

According to the Evaluation of Implementation of Action Plan for previous Youth Strategy 2015-2016 (Evaluacija Akcionog plana Strategije za mlade 2015-2017) the overall number of unemployed young people decreased from 42,3% in 2011 to 28,5% in 2016. Yet this percentage again increased  in 2018 to 29,7%, according to the Labour Force Survey, 2018 of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. In the latest Labour Force Survey (2022) percentage of the unemployed young people is 24,4%.

Another relevant strategy, the Strategy to support the development of small and medium enterprises, entrepreneurship and competitiveness for the period 2023 to 2027 (Strategija za razvoj malih i srednjih preduzeća za period 2023-2027) dedicates one of the strategic goals to “Intensification of support for more inclusive development of small and medium enterprises”. This goal prioritizes empowering youth in entrepreneurship, particularly focusing on women, youth, and marginalized groups, along with small enterprises in underdeveloped regions. Targeted financial tools will ensure inclusive development for youth, Roma minority members, and small businesses in underdeveloped areas. This measure recognizes the significance of diverse youth inclusion in economic development, aligning with other strategic plans like the National Youth Strategy. It complements forthcoming actions outlined in the Social Entrepreneurship Development Program.

The Employment Strategy in the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2021 to 2026 (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, Nos. 18/21 and 36/21 – corrigendum) has a general goal of establishing stable and sustainable employment growth based on knowledge and dignified work, and one of the measures in the Strategy refers to improving the position of young people on the labour market. 

The Strategy for Gender Equality for the period from 2021 to 2030 (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", No. 103/21) which has the general goal of overcoming the gender gap and achieving gender equality, among other specific goals, it is planned to increase activation of women in the labour market, especially women whose access to employment and self-employment is further hampered by discrimination, life circumstances or for other reasons, such as young women from the NEET group.

Employment measures are regulated by the Bylaw for Implementation of Employment Measures (Pravilnik o kriterijumima, načinu i drugim pitanjima od značaja za sprovođenje mera aktivne politike zapošljavanja).

Defined employment measures are:

• mediation in the employment of persons seeking employment;
• professional orientation and career guidance;
• employment subsidies;
• support for self-employment;
• additional education and training;
• incentives for users of financial compensation;
• measures of active employment policy for persons with disabilities
• other measures aiming at employment or maintenance of employment.

Persons seeking employment and employers are identified as target groups.

The responsible body for implementation of employment measures in Serbia is National Employment Service. It implements active employment policy which represents a system of plans, programs and measures aimed at increasing employment and reducing unemployment. The Service also implements measures through the projects that are implemented in cooperation with domestic and international organisations and institutions.

Measures addressing specifically/only young people are mainly related to the subsidies to employers from private sector that hire young people to the age of 30 that are:

• without any qualifications,
• with law qualifications,
• job seeking longer than 12 months,
• or were having a status of child without parental care.

Amount of the subsidy depends on the level of development of the unit of local municipality and the abovementioned categories of young people seeking employment. The amount varies between RSD 200.000 – 300.000.

My First Salary is a program implemented by the National Employment Service with the aim to encourage youth employment and support the economy in solving the problem of staff shortages. The program is launched in august 2020 and until 2024, 4 cycles of the program were implemented. Each cycles aims to enable upto 10,000 young people to work independently on specific jobs. Conditions to participate in the program are:

• a person has either secondary or higher education,
• up to the age of 30,
• has no previous work experience.

Employers who are interested in participating in the Program are announcing specific job positions where young people will be trained to work independently according to an established program approved by the National Employment Service, with a mentor who supervises and supports the process.

Young people with completed secondary education are provided with a monthly financial compensation in the amount of RSD 28,000.00, while for those with completed higher education the compensation amounts to RSD 34,000.00. The funds will be paid directly to the persons on training, through the National Employment Service. In addition to the amount paid by the state, employers can also pay additional funds.

In addition, the National Employment Service supports young job seekers through different active job search trainings and clubs for active job search.

Reinforcing the employability of young job-seekers is additionally supported by numerous career guidance and counselling services within institutions and organizations that provide non-formal education, career centres within youth offices, different types of services for career guidance and counselling of adults - employed and unemployed, etc.

Furthermore, the Youth Guarantee Program's pilot phase is being executed by the National Employment Service in Serbia. The initial Implementation Plan spans from 2023 to 2026, incorporating four key phases: mapping and early intervention, outreach, preparation, and offer, supplemented by cross-cutting enablers for efficient implementation. Pilot activities, scheduled from 2024 to 2026, will take place in three National Employment Service branches: Niš, Kruševac, and Sremska Mitrovica.

Flexicurity measures focusing on young people

Flexicurity measures are focusing on employed people in general, rather than on youth exclusively.

Some important flexicurity measures defined in Employment Act (Zakon o radu) are:

• possibility for remote working and working from home,
• an employee under 18 years of age and an employed person with a disability are entitled to special protection,
• the employer has the right to transfer by a decree the employee to other appropriate jobs, without the offered annex to the contract, if necessary to perform a particular job without delay,
• an employee may be transferred to another place of work under certain circumstances defined in this law,
• an employee may be assigned to work for another employer, if temporarily there is no more need for his work, if business premises are leased, or a business cooperation contract has been signed - until the reasons exist for his assigning, and for a period not exceeding one year, etc.

Reconciliation of private and working life for young people 

The main tool for reconciliation of private and working life in Serbia is parental leave which is regulated by the Employment Act (Zakon o radu). An employed woman is entitled to a leave of absence due to pregnancy and childbirth, as well as to a leave of absence for nursing a child, in the total length of 365 days. The father of the child also had the right on a leave for nursing a child. In the course of maternity leave and leave of absence for nursing a child, the employed woman, i.e. father of the child is entitled to compensation of salary.

Additionally, Law on Financial Support for Families with Children (Zakon o finansijskoj podršci porodici sa decom) regulates financial support mechanisms for families with children.

Funding of existing schemes/initiatives 

Financing of the employment measures come either from the national budget or through different projects financed by EU, NGOs, embassies and private sector.

The main public body responsible for financing and implementing the employment measures is the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs. As a reference, the Ministry’s budget for support of youth employability and active inclusion in 2019 was RSD 21 million from the state budget and additional RSD 135,9 million from different sources, which makes the overall budget of RSD 156,9 million (see Information Bulletin).

Ministry of Tourism and Youth also has a dedicated budget for 2024 for support programmes and projects for youth employability in total of RSD 114 million (see Information Bulletin), and an additional RSD 26 million from IPA 2014 - Youth employment support sector and active inclusion programme.

Additionally, one of the larger projects aiming to support youth employability in Serbia is in its final stages – it is the Education to Employability – E2E 2016-2023 (Znanjem do posla) which has a total budget of EUR 28,7 million. The Swiss Government contributed with EUR 16.8 million, while Serbian Government contributed with additional EUR 11,9 million.

Quality assurance 

The main mechanisms that foster youth employability and employment are to be achieved through the implementation of Youth Strategy 2023-2030, for its implementation includes indicators that are measured in order to evaluate the success of the activities that are aimed to support entrepreneurship/social entrepreneurship and youth employability.

Indicators that are being measured are:

• Number of young people involved in projects/actions for the development of entrepreneurial competencies; 
• Share of young people informed about existing support measures for self-employment and social entrepreneurship; 
• Improved public policy measures to support young entrepreneurs, including social entrepreneurs;
• Number of projects of citizens’ associations and LSGUs to improve the employability of young people on an annual level that are financed by MoTY.

Additionally, at the state level, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia conducts annual surveys on employability including youth employability and activism (see Chapter 3.1/Labour market situation in the country).

The main outcomes of quality assurance mechanisms have an effect on the Action Plans for the next period of Youth Strategy implementation, as well as on the annual changes of the employability measures taking place in the country, i.e. Action Plans and employability measures may be redefined