Labour market transitions of young women and men in SerbiaThis article is an edited digest of a publication written originally for the International Labour Organisation and is produced with kind permission. www.ilo.org/publns. This report was made possible due to the collaborative efforts of several members of the ILO Work4Youth Team as well as the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. The ILO acknowledges the support given by The MasterCard Foundation in allowing the research to move forward under the scope of the Work4Youth Partnership.Dragana Marjanović

Youth is a crucial time of life during which young people start to realise their aspirations, assume economic independence and find their place in society. Nevertheless, the global jobs crisis has exacerbated the vulnerability of young people and the toughness of the labour market they face. Despite a positive turn in Serbia’s growth prospects, the economy remains fragile and there remain several obstacles including low levels of employment, especially in the private sector, an ageing population and the need to capitalise on the potential of young labour market entrants. The ILO’s School-to-Work Transition Survey (SWTS) is intended to assist in the building of a knowledge base on youth employment, and was implemented in Serbia in 2015 by the Statistical Office. It shows that Serbia has a long way to go in maximising the potential of its youth, a problem compounded by policy-making being derailed by a lack of detailed information. The SWTS aims to contribute via an in-depth review of the employment challenges facing young people and concludes on the key ways in which policy can address these.