State Begins Preparing First List of Scarce Professions in Serbia – To Be Filled by Foreign Workers?

In the next year or two, Serbia will get the first precise list of scarce professions. Unlike similar documents which are harmonized each year so that the education policy would be formulated based on them, the purpose of this list is damage control

The need for detecting the jobs which no one is left to do is envisaged in the Law on the Employment of Foreigners. Foreign citizens who have the required qualifications will not have to go through the test of the labor market and wait for approval from the National Employment Service.

– The government can exclude certain categories of foreigners with scarce professions, certain professions and profiles, from obtaining authorization, depending on the state of the labor market and with the previously obtained opinion from the Social-Economic Council – says Article 11 of the Law on Foreigners.

If it turns out in the meantime that certain professions are no longer scarce, whereby foreigners could jeopardize jobs for local workers, the government can “delete” them from the list.

– By decision, the government can limit the number of foreigners to whom unique permits are issued in cases of labor market disturbances, in line with the migration policy and the state and the trends of the labor market – specifies Article 24 of the same law.

The job on determining the positions which can’t be filled out by local workforce has just begun. The first session of the work group in charge of the preparation of the list was held on Wednesday, at the Palace of Serbia.

– The aim is to define with precision the scarce professions – Jelena Micic, one of the members ahead of the GIZ organization, says for Forbes Serbia.

– Thereby, with the liberalization of the hiring of foreigners, the crowding in the labor market will be avoided. This is, however, just the beginning of the process, which will be detailed. When we get to that list, with contribution from all the competent institutions and researchers, it will be adopted by the Government of Serbia. Based on cross-checking all the data, we will end up with a list of 50 to 110 of around 400 professions. The next step will be to organize focus groups which will feature company representatives. It will be a test of sorts whether the right professions have been identified and whether we’ve overlooked some – adds Jelena Micic.

Vlada Republike Srbije

GIZ Beograd

Privredna komora Srbije

Unija poslodavaca Srbije Beograd

Center for Dual Education and Education Policies of the CCIS

Jelena Mićić

Mirjana Kovačević

Jelena Jevtović

list of scarce professions in Serbia

scarce professions in Serbia

Law on the Employment of Foreigners