Belgrade – The Minister of Finance, Sinisa Mali, presented the "My Fist Slary" program, during which the state will cover a part of the salary costs for 10,000 young people who have completed secondary school or faculty.

The state will be giving 20,000 dinars for those who finished secondary school, and 24,000 for those who finished some faculty, for a period of nine months, which means during the first probationary period or the first year of their employment, Minister Mali said while presenting new incentive measures for employment, the Ministry of Finance stated.

The measures were presented at a meeting with businessmen, which was held on the premises of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and was attended by the Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, the Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali, the President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Marko Cadez and the Director of the National Employment Office Zoran Martinovic.

Two billion dinars will be allocated from the budget for the "My First Salary" project, Minister Mali said, adding that it was planned at that moment to provide a chance for employment to 10,000 young people.  

Minister Mali reminded that the measure for the employment of all those who did not have a job in the previous year, in 2019, was applied at the beginning of the current year.  

For those for whom this is their first job, the state offers benefits, namely a write-off in the amount of 100 percent of the contributions for pension and disability insurance in 2020. The write-off will be 95 percent next year, and 85 percent in 2022. Therefore, the contributions are not paid by the employers who employ those who have not had a job so far, Minister Mali explained.

Minister Mali said that the state had reduced the obligations to pay income tax by 70 percent in the first year, by 65 percent in the second and by 60 percent in the third year.

He stated that training programs or additional training for those who want to find a new job would go on.

We have an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, but there is still a need for staff. That is why we want to enable those who do not have a job to receive additional training, to acquire new skills and knowledge, so they could each get a job, he said.

For that purpose, we will set aside 1.2 billion dinars for 10,000 people, which will be in the form of vouchers. The program will commence this autumn, Minister Mali said.   

The President of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, Marko Cadez, said that the businessmen had accepted the new measures very well, especially the "My First Salary" program.

Source:”Tanjug” news agency, RTS, RTV and Coordination Body