While Serbian women are more likely to hold parttime jobs than men, the percentage of women engaged in part-time work in Serbia is significantly lower than in OECD and EU-15 countries (Figure 4). Furthermore, both men and women who work part-time in Serbia cite inability to find full-time employment as a major reason for working fewer hours while part-time employment in OECD countries is largely voluntary<sup>4</sup> .

Part-time jobs in Serbia are mostly in the informal sector and the majority of people who work less than full time has low education levels and is engaged in unskilled occupations. Agriculture accounts for 70% of women’s and 61% of men’s part-time employment, followed by wholesale and retail, which provides part-time employment to 7.5% of men and 7% of women. The unattractiveness of part-time jobs could be explained by the low level of wages in the country. Employees may not be able to afford working parttime as associated costs (transportation, meals, childcare, etc) could be too high relative to earnings. Furthermore, flexible forms of employment were non-existent in Serbia before the transition and full-time work may be a longentrenched tradition<sup>5</sup> . Similar reasons can explain lack of attractiveness of temporary or seasonal jobs, which are also less common in Serbia than in the EU countries; 88% of Serbian men and 90% of women have a permanent job.

**Figure 4. Share of part-time employment in total** **<u>employment, % (population age 15 and above)</u>**

<!-- Start of picture text --> 40<br>35.4<br>35<br>30<br>25<br>20.2<br>20 Serbia<br>15<br>10 8.7 7.7 7.8 10.1 EU 15<br>5<br>0<br>Total Men Women<br><!-- End of picture text --> Source: for Serbia LFS 2009; for EU-15: Eurostat Data in Focus 35/2009

**Table 4. Weekly hours usually worked by men and women in Serbia** **<u>(population age 15 and above)</u>**

|||**Percentage**<br>||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Weekly hours worked**|**Male**|**Female**|**Total**|
|10 or less hours|0.66|1.19|0.89|
|11-19 hours|0.99|1.37|1.16|
|20-29 hours|2.89|4.83|3.73|
|30-39 hours|5.93|7.81|6.74|
|40- 49 hours|66.12|71.91|68.62|
|50- 59 hours|10.47|7.13|9.03|
|60 or more|12.93|5.76|9.84|
|Total|100|100|100|

Source: Serbia LFS, 2009 The majority of labor force survey respondents in Serbia reports holding one job with only 6.3% of men and 2.9% of women engaging in additional paid activities outside their main job in 2009. As with part-time jobs, most of the additional work activities are performed in agriculture, which provides an extra-source of income to 64% of men and 39% of women who have more than one job. Manufacturing, construction (for men), wholesale and retail as well as hotels and restaurants are other sectors commonly cited as a source for additional jobs.

Both men and women in Serbia tend to work relatively long hours. The mean number of hours usually worked in a week is 45 for men and 42 for women with 23% of men and 12% of women working over 50 hours a week (Table 4). This suggests that employers in Serbia are filling additional labor demand by requesting employees to work longer hours rather than through new job creation<sup>6</sup> . While women spend somewhat less time at work, they perform most of the domestic responsibilities. It is estimated that in

> 4 OECD. 2010. _OECD Employment Outlook 2010: Moving beyond the Job Crisis_ , Paris

> 5 World Bank. 2006. _Serbia: Labor Market Assessment_ , Washington DC

> 6 World Bank. 2006. _Serbia: Labor Market Assessment_ , Washington DC

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