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Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

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the past five years did not lead to an increase in<br />

poverty. On the contrary, in these five years the<br />

poverty rate halved. How can this be accounted for?<br />

Such developments can only be attributed to the<br />

impressive growth of real salaries in that period,<br />

which boosted the purchasing power of the<br />

population, and a more regular and efficient<br />

provision of various types of social welfare<br />

assistance intended for vulnerable social groups.<br />

The following table shows that the share of<br />

the poor in all population categories was reduced:<br />

Table 9.2. Adult population below the poverty<br />

line by employment status LSMS<br />

<strong>2002</strong> and <strong>2007</strong> (percent)<br />

<strong>2002</strong><br />

<strong>2007</strong><br />

Total Male Female<br />

Total 10.6 6.2 6.1 6.2<br />

Employed 8.7 4.3 5.1 3.4<br />

Unemployed 17.8 12.1 13.9 10.5<br />

Inactive 11.4 7.1 6.2 7.7<br />

Data on the employment status of employed persons<br />

in LSMS were gathered using the same definitions<br />

and questions as LFS. However, there are<br />

significant differences between the results. These<br />

differences are probably related to seasonality. The<br />

LFS is conducted in October, a month in which<br />

activities in some sectors, particularly construction<br />

and agriculture, are less intensive than in May or<br />

June (when LSMS was conducted). Due to this the<br />

LSMS shows a more favourable picture of the<br />

labour market than the LFS.<br />

According to LFS October <strong>2007</strong> the activity<br />

rate (for those aged 15-64) was 63.4 percent, and<br />

the unemployment rate was 18.8 percent. The<br />

higher number of employed persons in LSMS and<br />

the smaller number of unemployed people is a result<br />

of the fact that the number of persons with seasonal<br />

and occasional employment in LSMS is twice as<br />

high as compared to LFS. The increase in the<br />

number of employed people was observed in<br />

typically seasonal activity sectors, agriculture and<br />

construction. Employment status from the different<br />

surveys is shown below.<br />

Table 9.3. Permanent and temporary jobs<br />

LSMS and LFS (percent)<br />

LFS<br />

2006<br />

LSMS<br />

<strong>2007</strong><br />

LFS<br />

<strong>2007</strong><br />

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0<br />

Permanent worker 87.0 77.1 88.0<br />

Temporary worker 5.0 7.8 5.3<br />

Seasonal worker 5.0 8.4 3.9<br />

Occasional worker 3.0 6.7 2.8<br />

Even though the differences between labour<br />

market indicators in LSMS and LFS are probably<br />

largely due to seasonality, it could be said that there<br />

were positive developments in the <strong>Serbia</strong>n labour<br />

market in <strong>2007</strong>. This is shown in the data on<br />

employment and unemployment rates from LFS<br />

(which does not contain seasonal influences because<br />

they refer to the same month). It can be seen from<br />

Table 4 that the unemployment rate was reduced<br />

and the employment rate increased in <strong>2007</strong> as<br />

compared to 2006. While the number of employed<br />

persons slightly rose (by a little less than 1 percent),<br />

the number of unemployed persons dropped by 15<br />

percent, which resulted in a 2.8 percent decrease in<br />

the unemployment rate.<br />

Table 9.4. Employed and unemployed (numbers) and employment and unemployment rates (percent)<br />

of working age people, LFS<br />

%<br />

Number of employed Number of unemployed Employment<br />

Rate<br />

Unemployment<br />

Rate<br />

2004 2 930 846 665 436 53.4 19.5<br />

2005 2 733 412 719 881 51.0 21.8<br />

2006 2 630 691 693 024 49.9 21.6<br />

<strong>2007</strong> 2 655 736 585 472 51.5 18.8<br />

118 <strong>Living</strong> <strong>Standards</strong> <strong>Measurements</strong> <strong>Study</strong> - <strong>Serbia</strong> <strong>2002</strong> - <strong>2007</strong>

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