Skills development and sustainable employment during transition in Serbia

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the process of matching the skills available by the workforce and the skills demanded by the employers in the Serbian labour market. A skill mismatch problem is mainly caused by the structural unemployment. The main causes of skills mismatches are the unfavourable structure of the workforce and slow adjustment capacities of the education and training institutions, on the supply side. On the demand side, skills mismatches arise due to inability of the employers to develop more complex tasks and the low level of the companies’ training intentions. Unfavourable structure of skills may affect both job candidates, policy makers, and the employers in a way that it prolongs the time spent in job searching, induces the increase in social expenditures, and reduces business productivity. In this paper employability skills are analysed in the context of sustainable employment and it is concluded that the Serbian labour market generates substantial skills gaps through all levels of education