To attract workers from Balkan countries, companies need to be more proactive and offer better wages, the National Employment Service said on Tuesday, dispelling the perception held by businesses that workers from Balkan countries are not would not meet Slovenia’s growing labor needs.
More than 22,000 work permits for foreigners were issued in the first half of this year, with the majority of workers coming from Kosovo (7,000), Bosnia and Herzegovina (6,000) and Serbia (1,700), said Tuesday the director of the Employment Service, Metka Barbo Škerbinc.
To attract potential workers from the Balkan states, Škerbinc says Slovenian employers may have to offer them higher salaries, as work permit data shows more than 90% of foreign workers are offered nothing more than the minimum salary.
“I see here an opportunity for employers to attract staff with appropriate incentives: the higher the salary, the easier it will be for them to attract workers,” she added.
Although there is still great interest in countries from which Slovenia traditionally imports workers, the latter, for whom expectations have been increased, are now also turning to other European countries where interest in workers of the Balkans is also increasing, she added.
The Employment Service is convinced that Slovenia needs to do a better job of recruiting workers from their countries of origin, something the institution already does in collaboration with employment agencies in the Balkans.
For example, at a recent Slovenian job fair in North Macedonia, there were 3,500 people. And with 140,000 workers unemployed, there is significant potential for Slovenian businesses. There are also 350,000 unemployed people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and around 400,000 in Serbia, she added.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)