Implications for employment in the period of two crises: Comparative study of the Balkans and the EU

Abstract

One of the main problems the world is currently dealing with is unemployment. The characteristics of the labor market in the Republic of Serbia are long-term high unemployment rate, unfavorable qualification structure, high youth unemployment rate, regionally unequally distributed unemployment, and insufficient measures of active state employment policy. These characteristics point to complex issues that can be characterized as a type of labor market disparity. The problem is that the existing labor supply is finding it increasingly difficult to adapt to the changing demand for labor, which is associated with growing competition in the global market and accelerated technological change. The fact that Serbia's unemployment rates are higher than those of the EU's member states is particularly significant given that the Republic of Serbia's employment policy's primary objectives are the establishment of an effective, stable, and sustainable employment growth trend and the harmonization of employment policy and labor market institutions with the EU acquis. Insufficient use of human resources of a country has a direct impact on its economy and national income, which directly has negative repercussions on the living standards of the population and increasing poverty.