{"id":161673,"date":"2025-01-30T15:03:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T13:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=161673"},"modified":"2025-01-30T15:03:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T13:03:59","slug":"in-high-demand-like-gold-serbia-faces-shortage-of-10000-professional-drivers-influx-of-foreign-workers-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/in-high-demand-like-gold-serbia-faces-shortage-of-10000-professional-drivers-influx-of-foreign-workers-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;IN HIGH DEMAND LIKE GOLD&#8221;: Serbia faces shortage of 10,000 professional drivers, influx of foreign workers on the rise!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <strong>Traffic Safety Agency<\/strong> estimates that <strong>Serbia currently lacks as many as 10,000 professional drivers<\/strong>. As a result, the <strong>age limit for obtaining licenses has been lowered<\/strong>, and foreign drivers are increasingly being hired. In the past two days, <strong>two serious accidents in Belgrade involved public transportation vehicles<\/strong>. But what kind of training and inspections do those transporting passengers in the capital undergo?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Drivers in High Demand<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Needed and sought after <strong>like gold<\/strong>\u2014<strong>professional drivers<\/strong>. According to licensing data, Serbia has <strong>175,000 licensed truck and bus drivers<\/strong>, yet the <strong>Traffic Safety Agency estimates a shortfall of around 10,000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I renewed my <strong>B category<\/strong> license, but I lost my <strong>D license<\/strong>, so now I have to get it back. Anyway, that&#8217;s it for me\u2014<strong>42 years in GSP<\/strong> and another <strong>two years with a private company<\/strong>,&#8221; an <strong>urban bus driver<\/strong> on <strong>Line 31<\/strong> was heard saying, likely to a colleague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">FIND OUT MORE IN ENGLISH:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fserbiantimes%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0x4omKXRVMPhFuxyXgFbkKSShgajAu6MSypqqgN97ZiGtL2RJWYVvJfEUGoqsoHgAl&#038;show_text=true&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"250\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Lowering the Age Limit and Training Requirements<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One-third of <strong>professional drivers<\/strong> are <strong>over 55 years old<\/strong>, reinforcing the <strong>aging workforce issue<\/strong>. To <strong>combat the shortage<\/strong>, Serbia has <strong>lowered the minimum age requirements<\/strong>\u2014<strong>trucks can now be driven at 18, and buses at 21<\/strong>, with <strong>enhanced training requirements<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;They must complete <strong>130 hours of theoretical training<\/strong> and a <strong>minimum of ten hours of practical training<\/strong>. After that, they take an <strong>exam<\/strong>, and upon passing, they receive a <strong>professional driver\u2019s license<\/strong>,&#8221; explains <strong>Slobodan Karli\u010di\u0107<\/strong> from the <strong>Traffic Safety Agency<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>job market is relentless<\/strong>. Serbian drivers are <strong>leaving<\/strong>, while <strong>foreign drivers are arriving<\/strong>, attracted by <strong>higher wages and better working conditions<\/strong>. <strong>Foreign drivers automatically receive Serbian licenses<\/strong> if they obtained their professional permits <strong>before 2020<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If they <strong>acquired their C or D category license after 2020<\/strong>, they must undergo the <strong>same training requirements<\/strong> as our local drivers,&#8221; Karli\u010di\u0107 clarifies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Serbia Needs 5,000 New Drivers Each Year<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Without <strong>passenger and freight transport<\/strong>, <strong>economic progress is impossible<\/strong>. According to <strong>Serbijatransport<\/strong>, Serbia needs <strong>5,000 new drivers annually<\/strong>. The association <strong>advocates for lower training and licensing costs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We propose that <strong>young people under 30<\/strong> be provided with <strong>free or subsidized training<\/strong> for professional <strong>C and D category<\/strong> licenses through <strong>driving schools and professional training centers<\/strong>, similar to how it was done in <strong>secondary transport schools<\/strong> or <strong>the military in the past<\/strong>,&#8221; says <strong>Goran Aleksi\u0107<\/strong>, <strong>General Director<\/strong> of the <strong>Serbijatransport Association<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Safety Comes First\u2014At Any Cost<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Nothing is too expensive <strong>when it comes to road safety<\/strong>. Every driver must complete the <strong>necessary training programs<\/strong>,&#8221; Karli\u010di\u0107 emphasizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The association has also reached an <strong>agreement with the Ministry of Finance<\/strong>, which has now <strong>legally approved a fuel excise tax reduction of 34.56 dinars per liter<\/strong> for all transport companies, effective <strong>July 1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This is an <strong>excellent incentive<\/strong> for <strong>higher-quality operations<\/strong>, <strong>better service<\/strong>, <strong>improved business conditions<\/strong>, <strong>newer vehicles<\/strong>, and <strong>attracting young drivers<\/strong>,&#8221; says <strong>Aleksi\u0107<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are <strong>not insignificant funds<\/strong>, and they <strong>could help transport company owners support drivers in obtaining their licenses<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, <strong>transport companies are calling for the elimination of unfair competition<\/strong>, such as <strong>unauthorized minivan tours and ride-hailing services<\/strong> operating outside of regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">READ MORE: <\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/serbia-faces-government-reshuffle-prime-minister-milos-vucevic-submits-irrevocable-resignation-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SERBIA FACES GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE: Prime Minister Milo\u0161 Vu\u010devi\u0107 submits irrevocable resignation! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/a-major-victory-for-trump-google-maps-renames-gulf-of-mexico-to-gulf-of-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A MAJOR VICTORY FOR TRUMP: Google Maps Renames Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/tucker-carlson-shocks-everyone-america-tried-to-assassinate-putin-during-biden-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TUCKER CARLSON SHOCKS EVERYONE: America tried to assassinate Putin during Biden administration!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: RTS, <strong>Foto<\/strong>: Pixabay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Traffic Safety Agency estimates that Serbia currently lacks as many as 10,000 professional drivers. As a result, the age limit for obtaining licenses has been lowered, and foreign drivers are increasingly being hired. In the past two days, two serious accidents in Belgrade involved public transportation vehicles. But what kind of training and inspections [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":161674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[358,4708,1098,4709,3036,113,1650,4710],"class_list":["post-161673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-serbia","tag-biznis","tag-gradski-prevoz","tag-posao","tag-profesionalni-vozaci","tag-saobracaj","tag-srbija","tag-stranci-u-srbiji","tag-vozaci","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161682,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161673\/revisions\/161682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}