BALKANS: Some get lazier, others work harder
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Vesna Peric Zimonjic
Contrary trends arise in Serbia these days, where official statistics show Serbs are a lazy nation, while those who seek new opportunities show otherwise.
New figures show that an army of more than 870,000 people remains jobless in a nation of 7.5 million, seven years after the transition into market economy began.
The figures brought sharp public criticism of those responsible for the economy, but sociologists have another take. They say the nation has become "lazy", and many prefer to stay home rather than work for modest salaries.
"There are many reasons for such a controversial situation," sociologist Srecko Mihailovic told IPS. "We used to live under a regime that promised total care for all people, and now we are going down the rough road of capitalism. It's hard to change peoples' habits overnight."
Some habits were common to all of former Yugoslavia, which disintegrated in the wars of the 1990s. Under the old socialism, job loss was unheard of in the region.
In Serbia, the regime of former president Slobodan Milosevic managed to keep up an illusion of employment by providing jobless workers generous food packages through the strict international sanctions 1992-2000.
Salaries fell to 20-30 dollars a month, paid from the state budget. Many workers in central Serbia turned to farming, mostly on land in nearby villages.
Mere survival was the name of the game until Milosevic fell from power in 2000, and the new regime turned to a market economy. With the help of international financial institutions, it introduced work programmes for a redundant workforce. Most of the idle factories were either shut down or privatised.
In the meantime, average salaries for those who remained employed or started to work rose to almost 450 dollars. But that sum is still not attractive to many.
"There is no guarantee that one will keep the job, and for beginners the salaries can be as low as 200 dollars," head of National Employment Service (NSZ) Dragan Djukic told IPS. "So people prefer to stay officially unemployed, pick up their small cheque for that, and do something in the grey zone from time to time."
But some new steps have been introduced to check this, Djukic said. Three refusals to take up a job can mean losing health and other benefits.
Problems arise particularly at this time of harvesting. Central Serbia is known for its production of different berries, exported all over the world.
"But no villagers want to come and pick raspberries, although the payment is 20 dollars a day plus food and lodging," Mile Vasiljevic from the central Serbian town Valjevo told IPS. "So we have people from Bosnia and Romania working here; 20 dollars a day is not small money for them."
More and more people are now moving in search of jobs, young Serbs heading such a wave.
Thousands of young Serbs from Bosnia or the second biggest Serbian town Novi Sad spend their summers working as waiters in Montenegro, where the Adriatic coast is witnessing an unprecedented tourist boom.
"I would not agree that we Serbs are lazy," 22-year-old student Dragan Stamenkovic told IPS. He is spending his fourth summer in a row in the popular Montenegrin resort of Budva. "It's just the matter of weighing opportunities -- where's better to earn something. Once I graduate I won't be sitting and waiting for a job to land in my lap. I've learnt to look for it."
Much the same goes for young Croats and Muslims from Bosnia, who head for the Croatian or Slovenian Adriatic coast, where they can earn up to a thousand dollars a month. Several months at the coast provide them easily with funds needed for the next school year.
Another trend is a renewed migration of workforce, that was brutally curbed by the wars of disintegration in the 1990s.
Prior to the wars, it was normal for Bosniak miners to seek jobs in Slovenia, for Serbian surgeons to go to Bosnia, or for ethnic Albanians to go all over former Yugoslavia in search of good salaries. After the wars, free movement between former republics was cut completely. Changes began after the region returned to normalcy.
After a break of more than 15 years, advertisements now appear in the Serbian press for butchers, hairdressers, bakers and cooks to move to Slovenia, the only former Yugoslav republic that is now a member of the European Union (EU). The tiny nation of two million offers salaries three times higher than in Serbia.
Slovenia also needs doctors and qualified nurses, and many Serbs are ready to pack their bags and leave. An ophthalmologist or dentist can get a starting salary of 2,600 dollars a month in Slovenia, compared to 700 dollars in Serbia.
"This is a quality leap forward, a return to normalcy," Belgrade physician Jovan Radjenovic told IPS. He and his paediatrician wife are leaving for Ljubljana in Slovenia in September.
"Twenty years ago it was normal to be mobile, to move and look for a better salary. Then the wars ruined everything. Now it's time to start all over again, in the new-old sense."
IPS
Contrary trends arise in Serbia these days, where official statistics show Serbs are a lazy nation, while those who seek new opportunities show otherwise.
New figures show that an army of more than 870,000 people remains jobless in a nation of 7.5 million, seven years after the transition into market economy began.
The figures brought sharp public criticism of those responsible for the economy, but sociologists have another take. They say the nation has become "lazy", and many prefer to stay home rather than work for modest salaries.
"There are many reasons for such a controversial situation," sociologist Srecko Mihailovic told IPS. "We used to live under a regime that promised total care for all people, and now we are going down the rough road of capitalism. It's hard to change peoples' habits overnight."
Some habits were common to all of former Yugoslavia, which disintegrated in the wars of the 1990s. Under the old socialism, job loss was unheard of in the region.
In Serbia, the regime of former president Slobodan Milosevic managed to keep up an illusion of employment by providing jobless workers generous food packages through the strict international sanctions 1992-2000.
Salaries fell to 20-30 dollars a month, paid from the state budget. Many workers in central Serbia turned to farming, mostly on land in nearby villages.
Mere survival was the name of the game until Milosevic fell from power in 2000, and the new regime turned to a market economy. With the help of international financial institutions, it introduced work programmes for a redundant workforce. Most of the idle factories were either shut down or privatised.
In the meantime, average salaries for those who remained employed or started to work rose to almost 450 dollars. But that sum is still not attractive to many.
"There is no guarantee that one will keep the job, and for beginners the salaries can be as low as 200 dollars," head of National Employment Service (NSZ) Dragan Djukic told IPS. "So people prefer to stay officially unemployed, pick up their small cheque for that, and do something in the grey zone from time to time."
But some new steps have been introduced to check this, Djukic said. Three refusals to take up a job can mean losing health and other benefits.
Problems arise particularly at this time of harvesting. Central Serbia is known for its production of different berries, exported all over the world.
"But no villagers want to come and pick raspberries, although the payment is 20 dollars a day plus food and lodging," Mile Vasiljevic from the central Serbian town Valjevo told IPS. "So we have people from Bosnia and Romania working here; 20 dollars a day is not small money for them."
More and more people are now moving in search of jobs, young Serbs heading such a wave.
Thousands of young Serbs from Bosnia or the second biggest Serbian town Novi Sad spend their summers working as waiters in Montenegro, where the Adriatic coast is witnessing an unprecedented tourist boom.
"I would not agree that we Serbs are lazy," 22-year-old student Dragan Stamenkovic told IPS. He is spending his fourth summer in a row in the popular Montenegrin resort of Budva. "It's just the matter of weighing opportunities -- where's better to earn something. Once I graduate I won't be sitting and waiting for a job to land in my lap. I've learnt to look for it."
Much the same goes for young Croats and Muslims from Bosnia, who head for the Croatian or Slovenian Adriatic coast, where they can earn up to a thousand dollars a month. Several months at the coast provide them easily with funds needed for the next school year.
Another trend is a renewed migration of workforce, that was brutally curbed by the wars of disintegration in the 1990s.
Prior to the wars, it was normal for Bosniak miners to seek jobs in Slovenia, for Serbian surgeons to go to Bosnia, or for ethnic Albanians to go all over former Yugoslavia in search of good salaries. After the wars, free movement between former republics was cut completely. Changes began after the region returned to normalcy.
After a break of more than 15 years, advertisements now appear in the Serbian press for butchers, hairdressers, bakers and cooks to move to Slovenia, the only former Yugoslav republic that is now a member of the European Union (EU). The tiny nation of two million offers salaries three times higher than in Serbia.
Slovenia also needs doctors and qualified nurses, and many Serbs are ready to pack their bags and leave. An ophthalmologist or dentist can get a starting salary of 2,600 dollars a month in Slovenia, compared to 700 dollars in Serbia.
"This is a quality leap forward, a return to normalcy," Belgrade physician Jovan Radjenovic told IPS. He and his paediatrician wife are leaving for Ljubljana in Slovenia in September.
"Twenty years ago it was normal to be mobile, to move and look for a better salary. Then the wars ruined everything. Now it's time to start all over again, in the new-old sense."
IPS