In Serbia, 14.5 per cent of employees work under fixed-term contracts, significantly above the EU average of 9.9 per cent, according to Eurostat data for 2025 published today by Nova Ekonomija.

It was noted that although fixed-term and permanent contracts guarantee employees the same basic rights, such as entitlement to wages, annual leave, and sick pay, a permanent contract provides substantially greater job security because an employer must have a legally prescribed and justified reason for dismissal.

Out of 35 European countries for which Eurostat has data, only two had a higher percentage of fixed-term employees than Serbia: North Macedonia (15.4 per cent) and the Netherlands (18.4 per cent).

In Serbia last year, almost every seventh employee was on a fixed-term contract. Such contracts are typical for sectors that employ seasonal workers, such as catering, hospitality, agriculture, or construction.

“Outside of seasonal jobs, fixed-term contracts are usually concluded due to a temporary increase in workload or the need to complete a specific job within a set timeframe,” said lawyer Milan Predojević.

As reported, seasonal work cannot be the sole explanation for the high proportion of fixed-term employees in Serbia, as Croatia-which faces significant demand for seasonal workers due to the large share of tourism in its economy-recorded a markedly lower proportion of such contracts (7.5 per cent).

Another reason for such a high number of fixed-term workers in Serbia is that, as contributors to Nova ekonomija recall, a hiring freeze on permanent positions in the public sector has been in place since 2013, leading state institutions to resort to repeatedly renewed fixed-term contracts.

It is noted that permanent hiring requires a special permit, whereas fixed-term contracts do not; consequently, since the introduction of the ban, the number of “temporarily” engaged workers in the public sector has surged dramatically.

Lawyer Olja Mirković Grulović told Nova ekonomija that in practice, employees sometimes work on fixed-term contracts for decades, while recruitment calls are rarely issued.

“Recruitment calls for permanent positions are rarely opened and are often out of step with the actual needs of the service. The biggest issue arises when the employer is the state, as permanent employment involves a series of procedures, obtaining approvals, additional vetting of candidates, and similar hurdles,” she said.

As she explained, staffing structures are not updated regularly, which means the number of permanent posts formally fails to reflect the actual needs of institutions.

At the beginning of 2020, the Government of Serbia approved the first wave of recruitment calls for permanent teaching positions covering 5,000 educators. Priority was given to employees who had been working full-time on fixed-term contracts since 2014, 2015, or earlier-meaning for at least four or five years.

Željko Matić, representative of the Forum of Belgrade Grammar Schools, stated that educators are in a particularly precarious position, as they can lose their jobs after every summer holiday.

“A large number of teachers work on fixed-term contracts, most commonly running from 1 September to 31 August of the following year. When their contract expires, headteachers may-but are not obliged to-offer them a new one. Some headteachers can exploit this situation to ensure employee loyalty or prevent their participation in protests, as happened last year,” Matić notes.

Such uncertainty also affects employees’ personal lives, he added; a worker without a permanent contract finds it harder to secure a mortgage or plan long-term commitments, as they face uncertainty every summer over whether they will be re-employed in September.

He added that while any new approval for hiring is welcome, it would be far more important to lift the restrictions that prevent schools from filling vacant posts on a permanent basis.

Psychologist Sarita Bradaš said that job security is a crucial factor affecting the quality of work and workers’ lives.

“Job security is one of the key indicators of decent work. It is far better to have a satisfied worker, and a satisfied worker is not one who feels insecure in their job. If employers want to retain their staff, the first thing they should do is hire them on permanent contracts,” she said.

Bradaš believes that fixed-term contracts are a way to keep employees “on a tight leash”.

“In our country, it is very easy to dismiss even someone employed permanently, but a fixed-term contract further allows the employer to keep the employee in suspense. It is simply a way to keep people on a tight leash,” she stated.

According to Nova Ekonomija, since 2012, more than 170,000 Serbian citizens have left for EU countries in search of work, mostly to Croatia. In 2024 alone, around 24,000 citizens moved away from Serbia for employment reasons.

In the private sector, the situation is said to be different, as the hiring ban does not apply.

The Labour Law explicitly stipulates that fixed-term employment, with or without interruptions, cannot exceed 24 months; after a maximum of two years, the employer must offer a permanent contract or terminate the employment relationship.

Predojević points out several exceptions where a fixed-term employment contract may last longer than 24 months.

“The first case is when an employee covers for a temporarily absent colleague. In that instance, the contract is concluded until their return to work. The second exception relates to work on a project with a predetermined duration. For newly established employers, a fixed-term contract can last up to three years; they can enter into such contracts during their first year of business-that is, within 12 months of founding. The fifth exception applies to an unemployed person who is at most five years away from meeting the conditions for retirement, with whom a fixed-term contract can be concluded until those conditions are met,” he explained.

By way of comparison, within the region, Romania has the lowest percentage of fixed-term employees (1.6 per cent), which is almost the lowest figure in the whole of Europe.

Bulgaria follows with 2.2 per cent fixed-term workers, Hungary with 3.8 per cent, Slovenia with 7.1 per cent, Croatia with 7.6 per cent, Bosnia and Herzegovina with 8.9 per cent, and North Macedonia with 15.4 per cent, while no data is available for Montenegro.

(Danas, 22.07.2026)

https://www.danas.rs/vesti/ekonomija/poslodavci-radnici-ugovor-na-odredjeno/