Serbia lacks over 20,000 professional workers, as many are moving abroad or quitting because of working conditions, Goran Aleksić, the director of the Business Association of Road Traffic Serbia Transport, told Euractiv, adding that over 50% will be gone by 2030.
“The fact that several licensed drivers are engaged in other activities and do not perform the profession of professional drivers, and a significant number of drivers work abroad for employers in EU countries, is a concern. Estimates suggest that Serbia lacks over 20,000 professional drivers, which is almost 18% and poses a major problem for functional, efficient, and safe public road transport,” says Aleksić.
This phenomenon is not unique to Serbia. The entire Western Europe is experiencing a demographic crisis, with a declining birth rate and an ageing population.
“In Serbia, over 30% of licensed drivers are older than 50, which is over 50,000 drivers, while less than 10% of professional drivers are under the age of 30. It is alarming that the shortage of professional drivers in Europe and the surrounding region is much greater than in Serbia, even though wages there are higher than in Serbia,” says the interviewee.
He adds that, regardless of this, European countries are taking concrete measures in the interest of their economies to overcome the shortage of professional drivers, and Serbia should do the same.
“If concrete measures are not taken urgently now, the problems of labour shortages will exponentially increase due to the biological outflow of workers and the departure of qualified workforce to work outside Serbia. This will result in the blockade of the logistical flows of the economy and the mobility of society, as Serbia will lack over 50% of the necessary professional drivers in road transport by 2030”, he estimates.
Miloš Turinski from the employment platform Infostud explains that the shortage of workforce is related to the abolition of military service. Turinski told Euractiv that since mandatory military service was abolished over ten years ago, people are less inclined to obtain licences for professional categories, primarily because it is a costly initial investment.
“This level of driver shortage was not the case 11 years ago due to mandatory military service. In the past, people obtained licences for driving trucks and buses during their military service. With the abolition of military service in Serbia, people stopped taking exams and obtaining licences for trucks.”
(Jelena Jevtić | Euractiv.rs)
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