Many European countries are struggling to find welders, but also other experienced metal workers. Some of the investors, such as those who are planning to expand their investments and open new plants in Slovenia, are known to even give 250 euro to their employees if they recommend or bring them to a new metalworker.
Last year, media reported that the shipyard in Kladovo was prepared to give a salary of 1,000 euro to experienced welders but nobody applied for the job.
Employers in Serbia, meanwhile, are complaining that a very small number of qualified workers apply for their job ads, and add that there are simply not enough trained workers for certain jobs, particularly metal workers (machinists and welders).
Want to open a company in Serbia? Click here!
PR of the Infostud job website, Miloš Turinski, says that, despite the fact that there is a low percentage of highly educated workers in Serbia, it is the low skilled workers that are lacking, and that barely anyone applies to job ads for these kinds of workers.
Turinski adds that the first reason for the lack of experienced craftsmen is that most low-skilled workers consider that the available jobs offer lower than expected salary because they are aware of how much they can get paid. He adds that people are not ready for change and to undergo retraining even if companies offer to do that. Some workers even say that it is insulting to work menial, low-skilled jobs.
Turinski underlines that Serbia equally needs low-skilled labour, as well as the IT developers (the country is in constant need of at least 20,000 IT workers).
In January of this year, according to the data from the Statistical Bulletin of the National Employment Service of Serbia, there were 68,379 unemployed persons who have qualifications as mechanical engineers and metalworkers. Of this number, 30,728 people were qualified metal-processing workers, 2,232 were fitters and joiners, 9,916 were machine technologists, 1,558 were mechanics and as much as 23,945 machinists. Companies asked the National Employment Service to find them a total of 331 workers, but the data shows that actually, 8,793 metal workers got a job, which means that they found a job for themselves, without asking the employment service for help.
(eKapija, 18.02.2019)
This post is also available in: Italiano