Working Group for Serbia’s New Employment Strategy (2027–2032) Holds First Meeting, Supported by Education to Employment-E2E Project
On 17 September 2026, the first meeting of the Working Group for drafting the Proposal of the Employment Strategy in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2027–2032 and the Proposal of the Action Plan for the period 2027–2029 was held in Belgrade, at the Zira Hotel. The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (MoLEVSA) and the “Znanjem do posla – E2E” (From Education to Employment) project.
In the introductory part, Zoran Martinović, Acting Assistant Minister for Labour and Employment, addressed the participants, welcoming them and expressing his satisfaction that representatives of almost all institutions represented in the Working Group were present. He pointed to the major differences between labour market conditions in 2021, when implementation of the still-valid Employment Strategy for 2021–2026 began, and the current situation in which the Strategy for the new six-year period is being drafted — a situation primarily marked by a significant reduction in the pool of unemployed persons, an increase in the number of employed persons, and major challenges faced by employers with vacant positions. The new Employment Strategy needs to take these challenges into account and provide answers to them.
On behalf of the “Znanjem do posla – E2E” project, Milena Janković addressed the participants, explaining that the E2E project provides expert and technical support for drafting employment policy documents. One of the principles the Project insists on is participatory policy-making — in this context, taking into account the needs and perspectives of the various labour market actors who are directly or indirectly affected by employment policy. The Project pays particular attention to the development of career guidance and counselling services, and it is important for these services to find their place in the new Strategy, along with legislative recognition of the various actors providing these and other employment support services — from civil society organizations, educational centres, platforms and portals, to others — with defined mechanisms for their networking and synergistic action, so that labour market services become more accessible, more diverse, and better adapted to users’ needs.
During the working part of the meeting, consultant Milica Anđelković presented the main findings of the Evaluation of the Active Employment Policy Measure – Labour Market Training, carried out with the support of the E2E project, while Jelena Vasić of MoLEVSA presented the findings of the Ex-post Analysis of the Employment Strategy for 2021–2026, covering the first five years of implementation.
Consultants Vesna Pantelić and Katarina Stančić presented the main findings of the Ex-ante Analysis of the Employment Strategy for 2027–2032, serving as the starting point for drafting the Strategy Proposal and the Action Plan Proposal. This analysis was also carried out with the support of the E2E project.
These topics generated great interest among participants, who made full use of the time allotted for questions and discussion.
At the end of the meeting, Dragica Ivanović, Head of the Active Employment Policy Section at MoLEVSA, announced upcoming activities related to drafting the Employment Strategy 2027–2032, the Action Plan 2027–2029, and the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan 2027–2029.
Apart from the representatives of MoLEVSA and E2E, the meeting was attended by representatives of the National Employment Service, Ministry of Tourism and Youth, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Labour Inspectorate, Public Policy Secretariat, Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Serbian Association of Employers, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, Development Agency of Serbia, Agency for Qualifications, Office for Dual Education and the National Qualifications Framework, United Branch Union “Independence”, Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia, National Youth Council of Serbia (KOMS), Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM), and the Development Business Center Kragujevac.
