Malta, April 2014 Marija Bugarčić, member RB BOFOS Joza Pakledinac, member RB BOFOS Y outh in Serbia

Youth: - Fulfillment of their aspirations - Gaining economic independence - Finding a place in society The first reaction in Serbia is "It is hard to find a job for a young person " - The unemployment rate for people between the ages of 15 and 19: 62.2% - The unemployment rate for people between the ages of 20 and 24 : 48.8% -The unemployment rate for people between the ages of 25 and 29 : 35.6% -In the EU, the unemployment rate for people between the ages of 15 and 24 is about 16%

According to the analysis carried out by Serbian Association of Employers SAE: – One of the biggest reasons for such state of affairs - is a problem of the education system uncoordinated with real needs of economy. – Analysis of the situation in Serbia carried out by SAE includes the following trades: – Finance – Construction – Commerce – Other – The other trades make only 8% and this can lead to a single conclusion that at the moment in Serbia production has been reduced to a minimum what can be one of the reasons why young people are unemployed.

According to SAE layoffs in Serbia - in the state and the public sector - has a significant impact on the percentage of unemployed youth. The relation between the employed, unemployed and inactive people according to education level is shown in the following diagram:

The following diagram presents unemployment by gender and age. According to data shown in the diagram it is easy to notice that unemployment is the biggest problem for youth aged between 20 and 29.

Among employers covered by the research a number of those planning new employment was 40%; 54% have no such plans; 6% of those interviewed did not answer this question. Although it could be concluded that problem is in the education system, such a conclusion could be adopted only if the production part of the economy was more developed. In order to solve the problem, the National Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Youth on July 5, 2011.

The Law on Youth prescribes the possibility of youth offices opening, possibility but not an obligation for the local self-administration to open youth offices. Formally, there are 142 youth offices in Serbia but in reality there are only 36. Article No 6 of the Law on Youth prescribes equal opportunities principle and that poses a question whether a young person living in the provinces of Serbia, in a small municipality, has the same opportunities as his age mate in Belgrade. According to surveys, one in three young persons wants to leave Serbia.

According to the National Statistics Institute data, a number of the employed has been falling almost each year in period 2001 to Totallegal entitiesprivate entrepreneurs TotalWomenTotalWomenTotalWomen Number of emloyed- total, yearly average Republic of Serbia

This is a line chart / based on the table/ from which it is easier to perceive events. From 2001 to 2009, there was no significant change in the number of employees, but from 2009 to 2013 we can see a noticeable decrease in the number of employees. In total, from 2001 to around 390,000 people lost their jobs.

BOFOS YOUNG MEMBERS BOFOS young members talking about the trade union!