Registered employment

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

Labour Market Statistics Department, Registered Employment Statistics Group

Andrijana Milić

Advisor 

5 Milana Rakića, Belgrade

andrijana.milic@stat.gov.rs

+381 11 6964-229 ext. 424

The objective of the survey on registered employment is to obtain data on the number of employed persons in legal entities and entrepreneurs, number of self-employed persons as well as the number of individual agricultural producers (farmers) included in the system of social insurance.

The data of this survey are used for:

• precise measurement of the employment growth in the specific period of time;
• monitoring the employment trend according to the employment modalities: "long-term employment" - "temporary and occasional employment";
• obtaining information on the number of employed persons at lower territorial levels (down to the level of municipalities);
• obtaining information on the number of employed persons at the level of the section/division of activity;
• monitoring employment trend in the public sector.

- Classification of Activities (2010) - CA 2010, which was adopted by the Government, based on the Law on Classification of Activities („Official Journal of the RS“, number 104/09), by the regulation of 29 July 2009 („Official Journal of the RS“, number 54/10). This classification is comparable with the classification of activities of the European Union (NACE, rev. 2);

 - List of municipalities drawn in line with the Regulation on the Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units („Official Journal of the RS“, numbers 109/09 and 46/10);

 - Code list of the insurance grounds according to the Regulation on the content, form and method of submitting the unique application for compulsory social insurance, unique methodological principles and unique procedure of codes for data entry into the database CRCSI („Official Journal of the RS, numbers 54/10,124/12, 119/13 and 132/21).

All sections of activity (CA 2010), from the section A - Agriculture, forestry and fishing to the sector S - Other service activities, are included.

Definitions of the main concepts:

- The concept social insurance contribution payer includes the insured person and employer or income payer who pays the social insurance contribution.

- Insurer is a physical person insured according to the laws regulating the system of compulsory social insurance.

-   The concept employed in "long-term employment" includes persons who have a formal contract of employment with an employer for a fixed or indefinite time, whether working full-time or part-time, professional servicemen, persons performing manager's work under contract of management rights and responsibilities as well as persons performing solely an activity or being founders of enterprises or entrepreneurial shops and being registered in the CRCSI.

-     The concept employed in "temporary and occasional employment" includes persons having a formal contract of performing temporary and occasional work, service contract, author contract or any other, whatever the duration, as well as persons being founders of enterprises or entrepreneurial shops and not having an employment relationship and being registered in the CRCSI.

-      The concept registered individual agricultural producers (farmers) includes persons up to 65 years of age registered in the CRCSI as persons who are insured on the ground of performing agricultural activities, i.e. persons who are considered to be engaged in agricultural activities according to the law (farmers, farmer's household members, mixed household members, agricultural holders and agricultural holding members) if they are not insured on the ground of employment, performing independent activities, pension beneficiaries and at schooling.

Public sector is the part of national economy covering general government, as well as non-financial enterprises under government supervision who are primarily engaged in commercial activities (Law on Budgetary System, „Official Journal of the RS“, No. 54/2009, 73/2010, 101/2010, 101/2011, 93/2012, 62/2013, 63/2013, 108/2013, 142/2014, 68/2015, 103/2015 99/2016, 113/2017, 95/2018, 31/2019, 72/2019, 149/2020, 118/2021, 138/2022, 118/2021 and 92/2023). Therefore, the public sector covers the beneficiaries of budgetary funds in education, culture, health, social work activities, government administration as well as public enterprises which are founded by the State or local self-government  units which perform an activity of general interest (Law on public enterprises and performing activities of general interest, „Official Journal of the RS“, No. 119/2012, 116/2013, 44/2014, 15/2016 and 88/2019).

The public sector is broken down into the following subsets:

Public state enterprises are enterprises which are founded by the Republic of Serbia or autonomous province and which perform activities of general interest in the fields: mining and energy, transport, electronic communications, publishing of the official journal of the Republic of Serbia, publishing of schoolbooks, nuclear facilities, weapons and military equipment, use, management, protection, arrangement and improvement of goods of general interest and goods in general use (water, roads, forests, navigable rivers, lakes, coasts, spas, wildlife, protected areas, etc.), waste management and other areas.

Public local enterprises are enterprises which are founded by the local self-government units and which perform public utilities' activities or activities of interest for functioning of local authorities’ bodies.

Administration ‒ government and autonomous province level implies government bodies, bodies of the autonomous province, judicial bodies and institutions engaged in government-related activities.

Administration ‒ local authorities’ level implies local authorities’ level, local communities and institutions performing activities of general interest for local authorities.

Health and social work implies beneficiaries of budgetary funds, i.e. government institutions engaged in health and social security activities, sale of pharmaceutical products in pharmacies, sale of medical and orthopedic aids in specialised stores as well as students' and pupils' dormitories.

Education and culture implies beneficiaries of budgetary funds, i.e. government institutions engaged in education; scientific research & development; publishing activity; broadcasting activities; creative, art and entertainment activities; sports facilities activities as well as activities related to libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities.

The source of data is the CRCSI. The units of observation are insured persons of compulsory social security.

The survey covers all the social insurance contribution payers and the insured persons who are insured on the ground of employment according to the CRCSI: employees, i.e. persons employed in an enterprise, other legal entity, government body, local authorities' body; civilians serving military service in the army and military units and institutions; professional servicemen according to regulations on the Army of Serbia; domestic and foreign citizens employed in the territory of the Republic of Serbia in foreign or international organisations and institutions, foreign diplomatic representations and consular representations or in foreign legal or physical persons unless otherwise defined in international contract, i.e. if such insurance is provided for international contract; persons performing work outside employer's premises; employees sent to work abroad if they are not insured under the regulations of the given country or if otherwise laid down in international contract; persons who work or whose status is equivalent to employment: elected, appointed or delegated persons if they receive salaries; persons insured working on temporary or occasional basis: persons working on temporarily or occasionally basis if they are not insured on other grounds; persons who perform temporary or occasional work through youth or students' employment agencies according to the law, and are 26 years old, i.e. whatever the age if not at schooling; persons performing work under contract: work under service contract, author contract and under other contracts, but are not insured on other grounds; persons insured on the ground of performing self-employment activities: persons who are self-employed, founders, i.e. member of enterprises and who work within whether employed by the enterprise which they are founders or members, according to the law; priests, church officials, if they are not compulsory insured on the ground of employment; sportsmen who, according to the law, carry out sports self-employment activities; persons up to 65 years of age insured on the ground of performing agricultural activities : persons who, according to the law, are deemed being engaged in agriculture (farmers, farmer's household members, mixed household members, agricultural holder and agricultural holding members) if they are not insured as employees, self-employed, pension beneficiaries or at schooling.

Republic of Serbia.

Since 1999, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia has no available data for AP Kosovo and Metohia, therefore they are not included in the data for the Republic of Serbia (total).

Data are available from 2015.

Comparable data series from 2000-2014 were obtained by revision of the data. 

  (For more details, see sections: Comparability over time and Data revision).

Not applicable.

Number of employed.

Monthly data on the number of employed represent the number of employees on the next to last working day in the month.

Quarterly data on the number of employed are calculated as the arithmetic mean of the number of employees for three months of the reference quarter.

Annual average number of employed is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the number of employees for all 12 months.

The survey is regulated by the Law on Official Statistics (“Official Journal of the RS”, number 104/09), valid Regulation on Establishing Certain Statistical Surveys and the Programme of Official Statistics of the Republic of Serbia concerning the period when the survey is conducted.

Not applicable.

National legislation:

National confidentiality policy is defined in Official Statistics Law http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2322/zakon_o_statisticie.pdf

European legislation:

Regulation   (EC)   No 223/2009   of   the   European  Parliament   and   of   the   Council,   of   11   March   2009,   on   the   transmission   of  data   subject  to   statistical   confidentiality  to  the   Statistical   Office   of   the   European   Communities    (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:087:0164:0173:En:PDF)

Confidential data are treated in line with prescribed confidentiality principles.  

http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2322/zakon_o_statisticie.pdf

Calendar of press releases and calendar of publications are published at the end of the year for the next year.

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/calendar/

In line with the Official Statistics Law ("Official Journal of the RS", No. 104/2009) and European Statistics Code of Practice all users are treated equitably. Data on registered employment are published on the SORS website, after which those data are simultaneously accessible to all users.  Every deviation from the plan published in the Publications Calendar shall be previously announced and explained.

The data are published 30 days after the reference period.

Monthly data are published up to the level of the sections of the CA (2010) for the territory of the Republic of Serbia, as well as for the public sector for the territory of the Republic of Serbia.

Quarterly data are published up to the level of the divisions of the CA (2010) for the territory of the Republic of Serbia and on the level of the sections of CA (2010) for regions (NSTJ 2) as well as for the public sector for the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Also, in the database, data on the number of employed by sex and municipality of residence (NSTJ4) are published.

Annual data are published on the level of CA (2010) divisions for the territory of the Republic of Serbia and on the level of CA (2010) sections for NSTJ 4 territorial level (municipalities). Also, in the database, data on the number of employed by sex and municipality of residence (NSTJ4), as well as by sex and age for the territory of the Republic of Serbia, are published.

Not applicable.

-   Statistical release ZP22 – Registered employment in the Republic of Serbia, quarterly

-   Statistical release ZP22-G – Registered employment in the Republic of Serbia, annual

http://data.stat.gov.rs/?caller=SDDB&languageCode=en-US

Micro-data are not disseminated.

-    Monthly Statistical Bulletin

-    Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia

-    Statistical Pocket-book

-    Municipalities and Regions in the Republic of Serbia

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http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/o-nama/sistem-upravljanja-kvalitetom/

Data on registered employment are based on reliable data from appropriate administrative sources and surveys. The degree of accuracy is high. Before publishing the results, extensive data quality control is carried out. Compliance with other statistical domains is satisfactory. Comparability over time is good. The release of the results is in accordance with the publication calendar and the data is readily available to all users.

Combining several sources and methods of data collections on employees (for registered employment) is in line with international recommendations, standards and practice. The data are internationally comparable, as the EU and relevant international concepts, definitions and classifications are respected.

The need for up-to-date information on the number of employed, their movement and structure is expressed by a wide range of users, ranging from the state administration, through domestic, international, scientific and other institutions, business subjects, to interested citizens. Some of the most important users of data on employment are the Government of the RS, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and other ministries, National Bank, Chambers of Commerce, Trade Unions and Employers' Union, foreign employers (investors), then  Eurostat, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the International Labour Organization.

User satisfaction is measured on the basis of the amount of downloaded data and by Users Satisfaction Survey. The results of the last survey are available on the following link https://www.stat.gov.rs/media/377354/results-of-the-user-satisfaction-survey-2023.pdf

Not relevant.

The Survey is based on data from administrative sources. Accuracy and reliability are at a very high level.

Not applicable.

The results obtained from administrative sources are subject to the usual types of non-sampling errors, such as input errors, encryption, etc. The number of employees is a cross-section on the next to last working day in the month, which can be the cause of both under-coverage and over-coverage errors.

Possible insufficient precision at lower levels, such as the number of employed at the lower levels of NSTJ - municipalities and CA 2010 (due to the application of the methods of distribution of employed according to the municipality and the activities of local units according to data from the survey on local units).

The data are published 30 days after the reference period.

All data are published according to the announced Publications Calendar:

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/calendar/

The same statistical concepts are applied in the entire national territory. 

The Survey on Registered Employment is, among other things, in line with the definitions of the EU Regulation on short-term statistics No. 2152/19 adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on November 27, 2019, as well as the Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1197/20, which establishes the technical specifications and arrangements in accordance with the mentioned Regulation on short-term statistics.  

Data for 2015 are obtained according to a new methodology, i.e. new source and new definition of registered employment. In order to provide comparison of the data for series 2000-2014 with data from 2015, the revision of the already published data on registered / formal employment have been done.

The revision has been done up to the level of municipalities (NSTJ 4) for the total number of employed in a municipality and up to the division level of classification of activities (two-digit level of CA 2010) for the Republic of Serbia for the total number of employed, whereof the total number of employed refers to the employed in legal entities and in unincorporated enterprises (entrepreneurs), in "long-term" employment and "temporary and occasional" employment, as well as persons performing independent activities or are founders of enterprises or entrepreneurs.

Estimation of the number of registered individual agricultural workers for the period 2000-2014 was not performed because there are no adequate elements for carrying out such estimates.

The degree of coherence is satisfactory. The data are compared with the employment data from the LFS and Survey on earnings. Differences in the data that occur between these surveys are expected and are the result of different methodologies, coverage and definitions.

Until  2015, the annual average is calculated as the arithmetic mean of two states - March 31 and September 30

From 2016, the annual average represents the average of all 12 months. Since 2016, data are available as monthly and quarterly. 

As a consequence of rounding, slight discrepancies in sums at different levels of aggregation can occur.

Not available.

The main principles and standards of the revisions of released statistical data are defined by the General Revision Policy of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia.

Administrative sources: CRCSI and SBR.

Data from the Survey on Local Units conducted by the SBR.

Monthly.

Data from CRCSI. In September 2014, SORS took over the initial database of the insured and insured persons from CRCSI, and ever since retrieves every first Monday data on changes occurred in the previous month. This is done electronically, through web service, i.e. FTP service (File Transfer Protocol), via a secured network of the Administration of General Affairs of government bodies of the Republic of Serbia.

Data from SBR. SBR creates every month two consultation databases. The first is a set of all active enterprises, as of the last day in the month, according to the Register of Units of Classification kept by the SORS, and according to the data of the Business Register Agency. This consultation database is matched with the CRCSI database, and matched i.e. active enterprises are matched with data on the insured employees from CRCSI database represent the population for the calculation, i.e. classification of employees in legal entities and entrepreneurs.

The second consultation database is a set of all local units where there are a number of employees broken down by activities. Based on this file, created are the structures of the number of employees in enterprises, by local units and by activities of local units. Then, based on these structures the employees from CRCSI database are broken down by municipalities and activities.

Not applicable.

Not relevant.

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