Mijuskovic: Serbia ranks in the middle of the region in terms of productivity

Economist Veljko M. Mijuskovic told Kosovo Online that Serbia ranks in the middle of the region in terms of productivity, meaning that the situation is not bad, but that there is room for improvement.

Mijuskovic explains that a lower level of labor productivity does not mean that workers are lazy or less willing to work, but that it usually points to deeper factors causing the problem.

“What the International Labour Organization measures is the contribution of an individual employee to gross domestic product. For Serbia, that figure is between 28 and 29 international dollars per hour, which means it is somewhere in the middle of the region, so it could improve its performance,” Mijuskovic said.

He added that it is important to emphasize that the state can influence productivity levels if it establishes a sound institutional framework.

“That entails further digitalization, continued investment in education, and generally creating a macroeconomic environment that should encourage productivity. The performance of Serbia's economy is good, and initially we focused on increasing employment, but that is no longer the issue. Now that you have increased employment to an appropriate level, we are looking to increase that number of international dollars per hour, that is, the level of productivity. So there is a direct positive correlation between a country's performance and what is assessed as productive employment,” the economist said.

As he pointed out, it is up to the state to create a favorable environment through additional education and training, as this is one of the main sources of increased productivity.

“In addition, there is digitalization, the transition to new technologies, whether that is artificial intelligence, machine learning, or any other new technological tools that should help increase productivity and, of course, creating a better macroeconomic environment by making procedures for establishing businesses and their continued operation easier,” our interviewee explained.

Mijuskovic noted that there may also be problems at the micro level within a company, such as difficulties involving employees individually.

“There may also be problems at the individual level with employees, but these are already micro-level organizational issues, meaning that someone may simply not be suited to a particular job, the pace at which tasks are carried out, the working conditions and so on. Every employee should give their best when we look at these performance indicators, and this depends most on the relationship between the employee and the management of a particular organization. This micro, or individual, aspect exists, but it is not decisive for the level of the national economy,” Mijuskovic concluded.