The government has established an annual quota of 21.45 thousand permits for temporary residence and work of foreigners in the coming year.
The Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, Admir Adrović, said at the Government session that 5.5 thousand permits for temporary residence and work of foreigners are set aside from that number, which the Ministry can additionally allocate for individual purposes, in accordance with the needs of the labor market, and upon request Employment Office (ZZZ).
“For the employment of foreigners, 13.53 thousand permits are determined, and 2.4 thousand for seasonal employment, that is, 15.95 thousand permits are distributed from the total determined number”, specified Adrović.
Most permits are allocated to the construction sector, accommodation and catering services and other service activities.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Vladimir Joković, pointed to the fact that such a large number of permits have been determined, and that 40 or 50 thousand Montenegrin citizens are at the Employment Bureau.
“Here we come to some illogicality as it is possible. So, it pays for someone to stay in Montenegro and work here for half a year or a whole year, and we have such a problem with employment. What is it about, is it a lack of qualifications”, Joković asked.
Adrović explained that the employers’ demands were even higher, but that the Ministry, guided by the state of the labor market, tried to reach an optimum, so that there would be no problems in economic activity in the mentioned sectors.
“I appeal to the ZZZ and employers to start preparing for the next season and to try to do certain retraining, so that we can use the domestic labor force as much as possible”, added Adrović.
Prime Minister Dritan Abazović announced that Montenegro, especially during the summer season, has a large influx of labor from the region, but that he believes that in the coming period we will witness that these workers will not come from the surrounding area, but from very distant destinations.
“It should not be seen as something negative. You have a situation where people here will not do certain jobs, especially people from the coast, they may or may not be angry, but that’s it. I think that we will have to import labor for many activities, mostly those related to catering. Until now, we have had them in the region, and I personally expect an increase in the number of workers who will come from geographically very far destinations from Montenegro, and I think that we will hardly be able to stop that trend”, said Abazović.
He also believes that the concept by which people access the labor market should be simplified, because there will be many requests to the Ministry of the Interior and many people work illegally, in which the state only loses, local media reports.
