OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies Serbia: A Labour Market in Transition

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Executive summary | Table of contents | How to obtain this publication

ISBN: 9789264045798
Publication: 16/6/2008
Pages: 102

To catch up with more advanced economies, Serbia urgently needs to improve the functioning of its labour market. Despite many reforms, new business growth until now has been far too slow to compensate for job losses elsewhere. Recent reforms of labour law should be followed up by further efforts to improve the climate for business and productive work. Labour regulations must be flexible, but they should also be enforced more consistently. For all this to happen, it is essential that an effective social dialogue can take place and that it encompasses expanding and declining segments of the labour market

Executive summary

Serbia has achieved high rates of economic growth since 2000, and its transition to a competitive market economy is well underway. But precious time was lost in the 1990s, with the result that GDP per capita is now among the lowest in Europe. The country suffers from a large labour surplus, and the restructuring of the economy is still in a phase when many jobs are bound to disappear at the same time as new ones are created.

In this situation, it is crucial to establish the best possible conditions for creating more new jobs on market conditions. Key policy objectives must be to foster greater flexibility in employment, a consistent and equitable application of labour law and a transparent job market. The on-going transformation of the National Employment Service should be completed with a further shift of emphasis from administrative register functions towards counselling and job-search assistance to the unemployed.

Complete executive summary

Table of contents

Chapter 1. Serbia’s Overdue Transition
Chapter 2. The Institutional Framework for Employment
Chapter 3. The National Employment Service and its Programmes
Annex: Rights and Risks: Labour Market Challenges in a Post-self-managed Economy
References

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