IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/beo/journl/v70y2025i245p43-74.html

Exploring the link between the covid-19 crisis and non-employment in Serbia: Who was left behind?

Author

Listed:
  • Nemanja Vuksanović
  • Dragan Aleksić

Abstract

The global health crisis that began in early 2020 also affected Serbia. The national lockdown and subsequent social distancing measures had a considerable effect on both the economy and the population. The quarantine, followed by social distancing measures, had a significant impact on the economy and population. Despite the overall satisfactory performance of the labour market, there are signs that the majority of workers who were not protected by the government’s measures either lost their jobs or even left the labour market and moved into inactivity. Therefore, instead of focusing on unemployment, the aim of the paper is to analyse the impact of the health crisis on non-employment (unemployment and inactivity). Applying the probit model to LFS data, we examined the probability of non-employment in the years before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Controlling for the individual characteristics, we found that young and old people as well as those with a lower level of education fared slightly worse than the overall population. While the active labour market measure ‘My First Salary’ probably helped to improve the relative position of youth, the position of elderly and people with a low level of education deteriorated further in 2021.

Suggested Citation

  • Nemanja Vuksanović & Dragan Aleksić, 2025. "Exploring the link between the covid-19 crisis and non-employment in Serbia: Who was left behind?," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 70(245), pages 43-74, April – J.
    • Handle: RePEc:beo:journl:v:70:y:2025:i:245:p:43-74
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ekof.bg.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/245-02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ana Lariau & Lucy Qian Liu, 2022. "Inequality in the Spanish Labor Market During the COVID-19 Crisis," IMF Working Papers 2022/018, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Marko Vladisavljevic & Lara Lebedinski, 2023. "Left behind in Covid times: the impact of the pandemic on job loss and job finding rates of vulnerable groups in Serbia," Applied Economic Analysis, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(93), pages 147-161, August.
    3. Guido Matias Cortes & Eliza Forsythe, 2023. "Heterogeneous Labor Market Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(1), pages 30-55, January.
    4. Richard Arnott, 1998. "Economic Theory and the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(7), pages 1171-1185, June.
    5. Gregg, Paul & Tominey, Emma, 2005. "The wage scar from male youth unemployment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 487-509, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Bonanomi & Alessandro Rosina, 2022. "Employment Status and Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study on Young Italian People," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 581-598, June.
    2. Laurent Gobillon & Harris Selod & Yves Zenou, 2007. "The Mechanisms of Spatial Mismatch," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 2401-2427, November.
    3. Kexin Meng & Jing Jian Xiao, 2026. "Household Financial Vulnerability Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploration Through Machine Learning Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Baert, Stijn & Cockx, Bart, 2013. "Pure ethnic gaps in educational attainment and school to work transitions: When do they arise?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 276-294.
    5. Shuoyu Fang & Li Zou, 2023. "Narratives of Women and Gender Relations in Chinese COVID-19 Frontline Reports in 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-17, February.
    6. Liping Wang & Cifang Wu & Songnian Zhao, 2022. "A Review of Spatial Mismatch Research: Empirical Debate, Theoretical Evolution and Connotation Expansion," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, July.
    7. James Brugler & Minsoo Kim & Zhuo Zhong, 2024. "Liquidity shocks and pension fund performance: Evidence from early access," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 49(2), pages 170-191, May.
    8. Jangik Jin & Kurt Paulsen, 2018. "Does accessibility matter? Understanding the effect of job accessibility on labour market outcomes," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(1), pages 91-115, January.
    9. Wouter Zwysen & Simonetta Longhi, 2016. "Employment and Earning Gaps in the Early Career of Ethnic Minority British Graduates: the Importance of University Choice, Parental Background and Area Characteristics," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 1615, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    10. Ayhan Görmüş, 2019. "Long-Term Youth Unemployment: Evidence from Turkish Household Labour Force Survey," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 62(3), pages 341-359, September.
    11. Florio, Erminia & Kharazi, Aicha, 2022. "Curtailment of Economic Activity and Labor Inequalities," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1166, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Deniz Karaoglan & Cagla Okten, 2022. "The effect of parental job loss on youth transition to employment in Turkey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(2), pages 251-275, June.
    13. Dickson, Matt & Donnelly, Michael & Kameshwara, Kalyan Kumar & Lazetic, Predrag, 2024. "The Scarring Effect of Graduate Underemployment: Evidence from the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 17364, IZA Network @ LISER.
    14. Delmelle, Elizabeth Cahill & Casas, Irene, 2012. "Evaluating the spatial equity of bus rapid transit-based accessibility patterns in a developing country: The case of Cali, Colombia," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 36-46.
    15. Blanas, Sotiris & Oikonomou, Rigas, 2023. "COVID-induced economic uncertainty, tasks and occupational demand," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. Petru Crudu, 2023. "Long-term effects of early adverse labour market conditions: A Causal Machine Learning approach," Working Papers 2023:21, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    17. Michelle Yin & Garima Siwach & Dajun Lin, 2023. "Vocational Rehabilitation Services and Labor Market Outcomes for Transition‐Age Youth with Disabilities in Maine," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 166-197, January.
    18. Mattia Filomena, 2021. "Unemployment Scarring Effects: A Symposium On Empirical Literature," Working Papers 453, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    19. Quintini, Glenda & Martin, John P. & Martin, Sébastien, 2007. "The Changing Nature of the School-to-Work Transition Process in OECD Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 2582, IZA Network @ LISER.
    20. repec:osf:socarx:v3zt7_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Arne F. Lyshol & Plamen T. Nenov & Thea Wevelstad, 2021. "Duration Dependence and Labor Market Experience," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 35(1), pages 105-134, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:beo:journl:v:70:y:2025:i:245:p:43-74. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marina Lečei (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efbeoyu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.