The number of entrepreneurs is growing, the number of farmers is falling

The latest data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia report that the total number of employed persons in Serbia in the second quarter of 2025 reached 2,370,103 (an increase of 0.1 percent compared to the same period last year).
Nevertheless, in spite of the general rise of entrepreneurship in the labour market, the number of agricultural workers is decreasing.
Workers in legal entities, totalling 1,898,531, still represent the majority of the employed, despite a slight decrease (by 485), compared to the second quarter of the previous year.
However, the number of entrepreneurs has also grown and reached 425,321, showing an increase of 7,070 individuals, or around 1.7 percent.
According to official data, there are just over 46,000 registered individual farmers in Serbia, and the number of agricultural workers continues to decline. The decline has attained 7.3 percent, or 3,652 individuals over the course of a year.
The reason of this situation is various issues for which the state has not provided adequate solutions.
There is a similar trend when the data for the second quarter of this year is compared with the first quarter. The increase of employment reaches 5,209 individuals, or 0.2 percent.
The largest increase achieved within this group of employed persons consists of 5,026 individuals, or 1.2 percent, with entrepreneurs again dominating in this case.
The decline of the number of farmers is repeated and general, especially in the second quarter. Then, the number of agricultural workers dropped by 882 individuals, or 1.9 percent, compared to the first quarter.
On the contrary, the number of those employed in legal entities demonstrated a slight increase by 1,065 individuals, or 0.1 percent.
Particularly, clothing factories have shown the biggest decline.
The sectors of protective and investigative activities achieved the highest year-on-year increase in employment (in percentage terms) – 27.7 percent). Then followed information service activities with a growth of 13.5 percent, and repair and installation of machinery and equipment with a growth of 9.9 percent.
On the contrary, architectural and engineering activities, leather and leather products manufacturing, and clothing manufacturing demonstrated the biggest decline (17.7, 15.4 and 12.2 percent respectively).
The reason of this trend is an increasing closure of foreign factories in Serbia, what leaves a lot of workers unemployed. This has also touched the clothing industry, taking into account the closure of Benetton factory in Niš at the beginning of the year.

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