Bigger Inclusion of Private Sector in Managing Migrations Would Contribute to Serbia’s Economic Growth

The survey “Mapping the Potentials for the Inclusion of the Private Sector in Migration Management Processes: The Case of Serbia”, has been carried out with the support of the Swiss government, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in order to determine the possibilities, motivation and readiness of the private sector to contribute to achieving the goals set by the migration policies in Serbia.

In cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS), the UNDP has surveyed over 600 companies in Serbia and looked into their position on the inclusion of the increasingly present circular migrants, as well as the work-capable migrant population from third countries, into the operations of their companies.

The survey has shown that business people in Serbia are insufficiently informed about the possibilities of cooperation with business people in the diaspora, 66% of them.

When asked in which areas and in which way they could cooperate with entrepreneurs from the diaspora in order to contribute to the socio-economic development of their local community, only 34% of the subjects gave an answer.

They see cooperation in putting products and services on the market, the transfer of knowledge, experiences, ideas and innovative technologies as the most necessary.

The fields in which they would cooperate with the diaspora are ecology (including recycling and renewable energy sources), agriculture, information-communications technologies, tourism, culture, commerce, infrastructure and construction.

The survey has shown that a large number of business people, 82.5% of them, are not familiar with the work qualifications of migrants and the possibilities of their employment in Serbia. However, 60% of the business people expressed a readiness to hire migrants, and 31% to provide them with training.

Among the training courses that they are ready to offer to migrants, jobs which require medium expertise are dominant, such as plumbers, professional hygienists, carpenters, bricklayers, traders, mechanics, housekeepers for elderly persons, bakers and similar. To a lesser extent, the subjects mentioned training in IT sector, pharmacology, dentistry, healthcare, graphic design.

The results of the survey show that the owners and directors of companies which have the experience of working abroad are better informed of the possibilities of cooperation with the diaspora and that a greater number of them are familiar with the qualifications of migrants and are more ready to employ them.

Also, the survey has shown that a greater inclusion of the private sector in migration management would help Serbia deal more easily with two big challenges that it is facing on the national and local levels.

First, there should be a response to the need for the development of competitiveness and an economy based on knowledge and innovations, despite the fact that there is a decrease in the work-capable population due to the emigration and the ageing of the population.

That, according to the survey results, would contribute to the towns and municipalities in Serbia using the increased intensity of migrations, which they have been facing since 2015, for the development of the local economy.

Vlada Republike Srbije

UNDP Beograd

Swiss government

United Nations Development Program

UNDP

International Organization for Migration

IOM

Mapping the Potentials for the Inclusion of the Private Sector in Migration Management Processes The Case of Serbia

migration policies

circular migrants

Serbian entrepreneurs in the diaspora

sustainable development