Serbian employment rate up in 2022, work-from-home rate down

BELGRADE - According to the latest labour force survey, Serbia had an employed population of 2.9 mln last year - up by 64,700 or by 2.3 pct y-o-y - and the employment rate was up from 48.6 pct in 2021 to 50.3 pct in 2022.

According to figures released by the national statistical office RZS, the number of the unemployed population declined by 50,300 or by 14.3 pct, the unemployment rate was 9.4 pct and the percentage of the population outside the labour force was 44.5 pct.

The unemployment rate was the lowest in the Belgrade region (7.8 pct), where the highest employment rate (54.2 pct) and the lowest percentage of the population outside the labour force (41.2 pct) were registered as well.

The gap in the employment rates of men and women slightly declined to 14.7 pp in favour of men from 15.1 pp in 2021.

The practice of working from home, established during the coronavirus pandemic, is on the wane as fewer and fewer employees have the option of remote work.

Relative to 2021, the number of employees working from home constantly or occasionally was down by 64,000 to 184,100 in 2022.