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Seasonal work: Jobs in hospitality popular, agriculture not so much

According to the estimates of Employment Bureau, there are 18.000 jobs in season, and by yesterday, 4.471 people from their lists were employed.

“In all our bureaus we have had activities that aimed to prepare unemployed persons for seasonal work, through motivation and animation. The interest in this kind of work is big and grows every day, and we see a lot of students apply”, they said in the Bureau.

They can offer seasonal work in hospitality, tourism, commerce, services and agriculture.

“Employers seek additional help in restaurants and hotels, beaches as well, but they also ask for qualified workforce such as cooks, waiters, butchers.. Unfortunately, no one wants to work in agriculture. The conditions are hard due to high temperatures outside, so our citizens choose jobs at the coast”, they explained.

Although a large number of unemployed shows interest for work in reception, administration, commerce, the greatest number of opportunities lie in jobs such as waiters, cooks, cleaning, etc..

Women from the North to come forward

“This year, employers seek local workforce, mostly women, for jobs such as room cleaner, dish washing, etc”, they said in the Bureau.

This year, women workforce from the North and central region have shown less interests for seasonal work, probably because, due to the law for mothers with three or more children, they think they will have more benefits by waiting at the Bureau.

“Keeping in mind that it usually takes changing your residence, or inadequate qualifications, we have no law regulations for deleting from lists due to refusals of work. On the other hand, although the interest in male workforce is smaller, this target group shows more interest to work in season. They can still have some jobs, such as beach worker, parking worker, cleaners, lift boys, etc”, they explained.

In order to improve legal employment from their lists, the Bureau passes a Plan of employment every year.

“The Plan for 2016 is to find jobs for 10.000 people from our lists. Last year we managed for 10.430”, they said in the Bureau.

UPCG: Inadequate local workforce

Due to the specifics in Montenegrin economy, especially when it comes to strategic commerce, one of the biggest issues faced during the season is inability to find workers with adequate qualifications, said PR of Union of Employers of Montenegro Zvezdana Oluić.

“Long-term experience in Montenegro demonstrates that there is far greater demand for some jobs than there is workforce qualified to them”, Oluić said.

Radulović: Restaurants already have problems

According to words of President of Montenegrin Tourist Association Žarko Radulović, there is lack in workforce this year, as it was before.

“We are short of workers, those who come, often leave soon, they don’t expect to work so hard. We are approaching quota for foreign workers, so it’s hard to find local workforce. We will manage, but it is difficult”, Radulović said.

Why do Montenegrins refuse to do seasonal work is a question for them, but it is typical in the world.

“In any country with developed tourism, basic workforce is almost always compromised of foreigners. But, those who want to work and make money, they should know that they can”, he said.

Seasonal workers have three meals and accommodation, so if they don’t drink or smoke and want to save money, in three or four months, that amount can be 1.500 EUR.

“Other countries solve this problem by allowing the foreigners to work, but we are close to fulfilling the quota for this year, and the season is yet to begin”, he said. “Maybe when we get a little bit hungrier, we will start to work, because it seems that now everyone has everything they need”.

Montenegrins pick peaches and table wine grapes

Interest of Montenegrin workers for jobs on Podgorica’s plantations of grapes is growing every year, and “13. jul Plantaže” has noticed a growth in local workforce.

“There are 70 people employed in picking peaches currently, 50 of them are from Montenegro, and the rest from Bosnia and Serbia. We will soon need 120 workers, we expect this to be a group of students”, they said.

The most foreigner workers come from Serbia, BiH, Russia…

The decision on annual number of permits for temporary residence and employment of foreigners for 2016 is 14.792 permits, it was stated in Ministry of Internal Affairs, and in season this will be 6.830 permits.

“From January 1st to June 13th 2016 there was a total of 1.051 permits issued for seasonal workers from other countries. Most were given for work in service, accommodation and food (584), then agriculture (217), commerce (52), art and recreation (37), traffic and storage (36), construction (35), other services (35)…”, they said in the Ministry, adding that the most foreigners were from Serbia, BiH, Russia, Ukraine, Macedonia, China, Kosovo, Albania, Croatia, Italy…

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