Pavlovic: Serbia lacks mechanical and civil engineers, architects, doctors

Ljiljana Pavlovic from the Serbian Employers Union says that Serbia lacks mechanical and civil engineers, architects, medical staff, and doctors, while the construction and transport sectors lead in the import of labor.

Over the past five years, she points out, there has been a pronounced shortage of workers in the construction industry.

“This was initially specific to certain trades such as bricklayers, painters, carpenters, and tilers. Then the transport sector emerged as particularly vulnerable, with a shortage of drivers. And now, after those five years, there is almost no economic sector without a shortage of staff. We also lack highly qualified people, mechanical engineers, civil engineers, architects, medical staff, doctors,” Pavlovic told Kosovo Online.

Serbia, she says, imports workers it does not have or when retraining for certain professions is not easy or quick. The first workers who arrived were in the construction sector.
“They mostly belong to the qualified workforce, whether it is construction related to high rise buildings or civil engineering works. Then also in the transport sector. We are all witnesses to who drives us around our cities, so that sector is also very prominent when it comes to labor imports. Recently, the hospitality sector has also resorted to importing labor, so we now have many people coming from abroad working in that field,” our interlocutor said.

On the other hand, people are leaving Serbia who, as she says, go abroad in search of better opportunities, meaning those who do not receive adequate compensation or living conditions within their profession.

“It is difficult to determine exactly which professions these are, but generally speaking, it is mostly highly educated people who are leaving,” Pavlovic emphasized.

The registered unemployment rate in Serbia, according to her, is below 9 percent.

“These are data we receive from the National Employment Service, however, that number is probably higher if we include those who are not registered with this service,” Pavlovic explained.

She points out that artificial intelligence will significantly change the way we have worked so far in a very short period, and that its impact is already being felt.

“At this moment, artificial intelligence can replace all those jobs that are repetitive. These are tasks primarily related to administration and certain areas of finance. In banking, we increasingly use digital models for withdrawing money, and we need fewer people working at counters. There is no need to fear that jobs will disappear, rather, artificial intelligence will change the way certain positions are performed. We will definitely have to move away from the concept of ‘one profession for a lifetime’. We will have to adapt and learn how to use all the tools that artificial intelligence offers,” Pavlovic stressed.