1. Needs for new employments in the social welfare sector and departments of social affairs in local communities in Serbia Tamara Dzamonja Ignjatovic, Full-time professor, BU FPN Nevenka Zegarac, Full-time professor, BU FPN Natalija Perisic, Assistant professor, BU FPN Ana Zotova, UNS FF

2. Aims of the research to establish current qualification structure of employed professionals to establish the needs for new work posts in the fields of social work, social policy and social inclusion Surveyed institutions Social work centers (SWCs) Social welfare institutions (SWIs) Local administrations (LAs)

3. Data compiling methods 3 questionnaires for each of the institutions (SWCs, SWIs, LAs) To survey the structure of professionals employed with the social welfare and local administration and needs and plans for employing new professionals in the next five years Research design Purpose of survey explained and presented Questionnaires delivered, filled-in and returned via electronic mails (March – April 2014) Questionnaires delivered to almost every SWC in Serbia (140 SWCs and 33 branches) and 80 SWIs

4. Regions in the sample Base/ Region Vojvodina Central Serbia Local administrations 15 municipalities 24% 48 municipalities 76% Social Work Centers 32 municipalities 34% 63 municipalities 66% Social welfare institutions 10 municipalities 35% 19 municipalities 65%

5. 1. Social Work Centers Responsiveness to questionnaires 95 SWCs filled in questionnaires: 32 of 41 SWCs in Vojvodina and 63 of 90 SWCs in Central Serbia The questionnaires were not delivered to 8 SWCs and 4 branches in Kosovo and Metohija. Data could be generalized for the whole population of Vojvodina and Central Serbia; however, their strong limitation is the absence of data from the biggest CSWs, i.e. Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis.

6. SWCs based on the size Size of SWC N% Small SWC – up to 10 professionals 7073.7 Medium SWC – from 11 to 20 professionals 1414.7 Big SWC – more than 21 professionals 1111.6 Total 95100.0

7. Employed social workers 881 professionals in surveyed SWCs, social workers - 56.18%, In small SWCs, 51.22% of 369 professionals are social workers In medium SWCs, 58.25% are social workers In big SWCs, 57.65% are social workers In 25 of 95 surveyed SWCs, percentage of SW is under 50%. 1 SWC (Dimitrovgrad) has not a single social worker; 15 SWCs have only Bachelors in social work; 18 SWCs have only College social workers graduated from two-year post-secondary school. More than the half (261) have two-year post-secondary school and 234 have university diploma. Gender structure: female social workers - 81.61% with two-year post-secondary school and 85.9% with university degree

8. Structure of social workers compared with current regulations Based on the 2012 data of the Republic Office for Social Welfare, budget financed work posts in the SWCs were occupied by 43,6% social workers (6,4% below the minimum requirement from the regulations). 60 of 95 SWCs did not deliver data considering requirements on regulations. In the majority of SWCs employing additional professionals through local communities, social workers are predominant profile.

9. Local community services in SWCs 25 of 95 SWCs have developed local community supplementary services and employ professionals performing other tasks apart from the basic package. Social workers (23) and Bachelors in Law (19) are predominantly hired for local services, followed by psychologists (16) and sociologists (12).

10. Dynamic of personnel change in the next five years In 59 SWCs, 138 social workers will retire in the next 5 years. Surveyed SWCs reported the need for new employment of 206 social workers. An identical number (of psychologists and pedagogues will retire (13), while the reported need for new employments of psychologists is estimated to 30 compared to 21 pedagogues. Needs for new employments of special pedagogues are decreased – 5 will retire in 5 SWCs, while the recruitment of 9 special pedagogues into 8 SWCS is planned. There are no expectations that new posts will be offered to pedagogues for adults and special education teachers in SWCs.

11. Explanation of the need for increased number of professionals 23% did not provide an explanation Increased workload Lack of social workers : „there are no social workers at the labor market“, „no one applied for the job“ Municipalities do not have funds In some cities, there were no new employments during the last 15 years despite increased workload Vacancies due to retirement Social workers are equally needed in Vojvodina and Central Serbia.

12. 2. Local administrations SWCs were mediators asked to contact the competent persons in respective departments of social affairs, for the purpose of filling in questionnaires. Data were obtained from 63 local administrations (63.2%), so that there are no comparable data for 35 (36.8%) of them with the SWCs. Municipalities f% Up to 15 000 inhabitants1320.6 From15 000 to 50 000 inhabitants3454.0 From 50 000 to 100 000 inhabitants812.7 Over 100 000 inhabitants812.7 Total63100.0

13. Strategic social welfare plans There are no strategic social welfare plans in more than the half of surveyed municipalities (55,6%) The reasons are such as follows: 14,4% reported that the plan will be designed in the near future, i.e. „it is in progress”, „in the adoption phase“ or „ to be finalized“. 8% have strategic social welfare plans which were valid until 2013 or will be valid during this, 2014 year.

14. Structure of professionals in local administrations The surveyed 63 local administrations have the following structure of professionals: Bachelors in Law (98), Economists (62), Other professionals are rarely employed: social workers (13), sociologists (9), pedagogues (13), psychologists (3), There are additional 30 different professions – from physical education teachers to primary school teachers, defense teachers and Agriculture Engineer.

15. Estimated needs for new employments For Bachelors in Law (43), increase for 50% For social workers (35), 2.5x times more For economists (21) + 1/3 For sociologists (13) compared to 9 currently employed in local administrations

16. Financing local services In-house help for adults and elderly: in 27 LAs, 172 and 103 professionals are funded by the local budget and projects respectively, on top of 45 volunteers. Daily centers for children: in 19 LAs, 65 and 15 professionals are funded by the local budget and projects respectively, on top of 4 volunteers. Daily centers for adults and elderly: in 4 LAs, 13 professionals are funded by the local budget, while 4 are project-funded or volunteers. Of 63 surveyed municipalities, 91% identified the need for supplementary social welfare services and thus for new employments.

17. 3. Social welfare institutions 29 (36,2%) of 80 SWIs funded from the state budget filled in the questionnaires. Structure of surveyed institutions 16 of 40 institutions for elderly and adults, 6 of 15 institutions for elderly and adults with learning disabilities, 3 of 11 institutions for children without parental care, 2 of 5 institutions for children with disturbances, 1 of 5 centers for foster care and adoption, 1 of 3 institutions for youth upbringing, 1 of 1 centers for anti-trafficking.

18. Beneficiaries Beneficiaries in the majority of the institutions are adults and elderly without learning disabilities and mental disturbances (41%), children and youth without parental care or at risk of staying without care (10,2%), 17% of beneficiaries are those having mental disturbances and learning disabilities, Persons with physical disabilities and other beneficiaries present in single surveyed institutions

19. Structure of professionals The dominantly employed professionals in SWIs are care workers, 74 in total – their profession is not specified in regulations 60 (81,08%) of care vorkers is paid by the state budget, while 14 (18,92%) are paid from the local budgets They are followed by graduate social workers or psychologists – 41 in total, which is below the regulated norm of 48.

20. Estimations for new employments in SWCs, LAs and SWIs An aggregate estimation of the need for new employments of social workers in SWCs, LAs and SWIs in Serbia in the next 5 years is reported at 290 new employments (which is close to the number of newly graduate social workers during 5 year period, since not every student graduates!).

21. Estimation of new employments in the next 5 years SWCs Local administrations Social welfare institutions Total needs Profession Central Serbia Vojvodi na Central Serbia Vojvodi na Central Serbia Vojvodi na Soc. worker 132742783118290 Psycho.301811210475 Pedagog.209936350 Spec. ped.63//8320 Special ed. teach. ////12618 Logoped.*//3///3 Ped. for adults // 4/ B. in Laws30132/45 Sociolog.112 //13

22. Estimation of professionals to be retired in the next 5 years SWCsSWIsTotal Profession Central Serbia Vojvodina Central Serbia Vojvodina Soc. workers8751116155 Psycholog.1134119 Pedagogues1032116 Spec. pedag.32319 Special ed. teachers 4 /1/ 5 Logoped. / / / // Ped. for adults 31 // 4

23. Data on unemployed social workers National Employment Office - 229 unemployed social workers ( 83.41% female). Half of them resides in the Belgrade region (52%). In Vojvodina, there are 21 unemployed social workers, in Šumadija and Western Serbia - 48, in the region of Southern and Eastern Serbia - 18, and K&M - 23. The number of unemployed is two time higher in the Northern Serbia. There are no unemployed: in the regions of Northern Backa and Jablanica as well as in the cities of Pirot and Zajecar. Structure of unemployed: of 229 social workers, 59.82% completed their studies pursuant to Bologna criteria, 85 (37.12%) have their diplomas based on system existing prior to Bologna, while 5 and 2 have Master and Specialist diplomas, respectively.

24. Conclusion /1 The primary aim of the research is to point to the need for new employments in social welfare sector based on: Insufficient number of professionals, first of all social workers, compared with statutory regulations applicable to SWCs and SWIs Expected decrease in the number of professionals due to their retirement Estimated needs for new services at the local level Data of the National Employment Service

25. Conclusion /2 The structure of professionals employed in SWCs is mainly in compliance with the regulations. Predominance of female labor force and unfavorable age structure in SWCs. All sources point to prominent needs for new employments of especially social workers in the next 5 years (300 and more new posts). Increasingly more private homes for elderly obliged to employ social workers – currently can be estimated at 40-50 new posts.

26. Conclusion /3 Needs for new services in social welfare sector are huge, and the current number of professionals employed based on existing regulations for work in SWCs and SWIs has been facing huge challenges for effective meeting of requirements of increased number of beneficiaries. Departments of social affairs in LAs: unfavorable, mainly inadequate and insufficient personnel structure in need of significantly improved knowledge in order to meet the requirements for social services development as required by the Law on Social Welfare – evidenced need for profiles educated in social policy

27. Conclusion /4 Relatively representative data – huge number of SWCs of different sizes, different SWIs from the whole state territory Limitations – the biggest CSWs are missing (from Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis) A part of data is incomplete or not reliable to the full extent Estimations and need for employing social workers and other professionals in the fields of health care and mental health, education and juvenile sentences are not included. The findings are a useful base for the evaluation and planning university education and employment.