Kop-promet Ltd. is a family-owned textile business located in the Serbian municipality of Novi Pazar, traditionally known for its textile production. Specializing in the production of both fashionable and protective clothing, the company currently employs 40 full-time workers.
Ukras Ltd. is a small Serbian company established during the economic downturn of the 1990s. For more than 20 years, owner Svetozar Milovanović struggled to develop a steady business for the production of protective gloves.
"The development of a knowledge-based economy, primarily in the context of IT technologies, is Niš’s biggest opportunity for development,” said Dejan Pavlović, CEO of Ates Soft, one of the Niš Cluster of Advanced Technologies member companies that support the ICT Academy by offering job opportunities and experience to its graduates. “There is no time to waste. It’s time to take action!” he added.
In 2013, the country’s overall unemployment rate was greater than 20 percent, with youth unemployment exceeding 50 percent. Labor law restricted workplace flexibility, hiring procedures, and employment policies, leading businesses to stay out of the market and creating barriers for job creation. Yet, much of the Serbian population was uninformed about the key problems in the labor market, and some interested parties—such as trade and labor unions—feared that reforms would disrupt business and employment.
The unemployment rate for Serbian youth currently stands at nearly 50 percent countrywide. But they are starting to chart a new course in the technology sector that may change that figure.
Comment
Make a general inquiry or suggest an improvement.