Around one third of businesses in Serbia report difficulty finding suitable candidates, according to the European Commission’s Serbia 2026 Report, dated 4 November 2026.
Shortages of skills, knowledge and experience are becoming a major obstacle to investment and expansion. The Commission says access to skills that match labour-market needs remains an issue across sectors, even as headline unemployment declines. The mismatch shows that available labour does not necessarily have the skills employers need.
Manufacturers need technicians, electricians, welders, automation specialists and engineers. Service companies require digital and language skills.
If training systems fail to keep pace, companies may import labour, delay investment, automate faster or move functions elsewhere. Each response changes the economics of Serbia’s growth model.
Serbia has made efforts to modernise vocational education, but workplace training remains uneven. More systematic partnerships between employers, vocational schools and universities could have direct investment value.
Matching training capacity to concrete industrial clusters may be more effective than broad programmes that do not lead to employable skills.
