Category: Author’s post

Agreement on minimum wage is not reached

As the second session of the Socio-Economic Council (SES) did not lead to any agreement on the minimum wage for 2026, the next meeting will take place on 29 August. In case of no agreement, the Government will make the decision on the minimum wage on 11 September.  A 10.1 percent increase in the minimum […]

Minimum wage will be frozen by Kazakhstan in 2026 in spite of earlier promises

As Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin confirmed at a recent press conference, Kazakhstan will maintain its current minimum wage of 85,000 KZT per month (approximately $157) in 2026.
However, there is a contradiction between this announcement and earlier statements that Minister of Labor and Social Protection Svetlana Zhakupova had made in June. She indicated the intention of the government to raise the minimum wage from January 1, 2026. There was even a suggestion made by Finance Minister Madi Takiev to increase it to just over 90,000 KZT ($166). Nevertheless, Zhumangarin stated that they have scrapped the proposed adjustment.
He said that there are currently no plans to increase the minimum wage. As of today, it remains at 85,000 KZT, and there are no projects of increase at this time.
According to Zhumangarin, the government has allocated 800 billion KZT ($1.4 billion) in the 2026 budget to cover the costs of annual indexation of pensions and benefits to inflation. As Takiev added, they have made the decision to leave the wage unchanged while calculations had been made for a potential increase, “given the current situation”.
Last increase of the minimum wage took place in January 2024, from 70,000 KZT ($135 at the time) to its current level. There are calls for a broader review of the minimum wage, the minimum subsistence level, and the structure of the official food basket coming from some members of parliament.
During an interview, Zhumangarin recognized that he himself could not live on 85,000 KZT per month under current market conditions, but he also highlited the need of a cautious approach to the issue.
Also, the Ministry of Labor said that approximately 170,000 people in Kazakhstan currently earn the minimum wage, while another 160,000 earn around 100,000 KZT monthly. There are totally 9.3 million employed individuals in the country, as of the first quarter of 2025.
Nevertheless, Yelnur Beisenbayev, AMANAT parliamentary faction leader, criticized government statistics, particularly the official average salary figure of 423,000 KZT ($830).
As he remarked, three million people earn around 200,000 KZT in Kazakhstan, of whom 1.8 million live on the minimum wage of 85,000 KZT. Beisenbayev asked who earns 423,000. According to him, the government calculates the average wage in a wrong way – just summarizing the wages and dividing the total sum into the number of people.

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The Labor Market in Serbia values craftsmanship

A reality of the domestic job market shows that the salary of a baker in Serbia can exceed that of a doctor. This fact puts a security of graduated specialists in the job market in question.
Despite the shortage of skilled workers in trades, the needs are increasingly shifting toward workers with secondary vocational education and skilled tradespeople.
The specialized job-seeking site “Poslovi Infostud” conducted a research concerning trends in the job market from 2020 to the end of 2024. It showed that the share of job advertisements aimed at highly educated candidates decreased from 38 percent to 29 percent. Nevertheless, a different picture appears at a more detailed analysis – an actual growth of the number of these advertisements from 16,752 during the pandemic year of 2020 to 21,326 in 2024. The problem is that some segments of the market have grown even faster, such as skilled tradespeople, placing skilled tradespeople “in the spotlight.”
According to Miloš Turinski, the public relations manager of “Poslovi Infostud,” there have been about 120,000 job ads for candidates with higher education in the last five years (around 30 to 35 percent of the total number annually).
Drivers, construction workers, hospitality staff, and auto mechanics, chefs, hairdressers, painters, wallpaper hangers, carpenters, plumbers and waiters are in demand.
According to the NSZ, the structure of the economy, with such most represented sectors as manufacturing, construction, transport, and trade causes the increase in the number of advertisements for workers with secondary education. Another significant challenge for the domestic job market is the emigration of workers abroad.
The significant shortage in the market gives skilled tradespeople the “luxury” of selecting jobs and setting work conditions and of earning from 1,000 euros and upwards.
In education the situation is similar. According to the Minister of Education, Dejan Vuk Stanković, the projection for this year is that the starting salary in education will be 114,000 dinars. Low salaries have led to the lowest number of enrolled students in the last decade.
The NSZ expects the job market in Serbia to stabilize gradually in the future, due to economic growth, the development of the IT sector, services, and creative industries.
They also expect the field of artificial intelligence to grow. Interest in experienced workers in this sector remains high despite job optimization and a decrease in the volume of projects. Another trend with anticipated growth is foreign labor imports.
Skills rather than solely degrees are the main focus of employers. So, they value secondary vocational qualification supplemented with additional courses more than a degree. Nevertheless, the significance of higher education will remain.

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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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10,000 foreigners are deported from Kazakhstan amid crackdown on migration violations

First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Baurzhan Alenov reports the deportation of nearly 10,000 foreign citizens from Kazakhstan since the beginning of 2025 at a recent government meeting addressing migration trends and enforcement measures.

He also underlined a consistent rise in the number of foreign arrivals to the country. More than 7.5 million people entered Kazakhstan in the first half of 2025, while 7.2 million departed. It shows a net increase of 600,000 compared to the same period in 2024. Nearly 90% of those arriving came from post-Soviet states.

As Alenov stated, 97% of foreign citizens comply with migration laws. Nevertheless, there are more than 200,000 individuals who have faced administrative penalties. They have fined 46,000 for violating residency rules, and they have deported almost 10,000 with a five-year ban on re-entry.

Also, over 2,000 employers had to pay fines for the illegal employment of foreign workers. They have opened seven criminal cases against repeat offenders.

Nearly 212,000 foreign nationals reside in Kazakhstan on a permanent basis as of mid-2025. Almaty has the largest concentration (42,000), then follow the Almaty region (32,000), and both Astana and the Karaganda region (17,000 each). The rise of the number of permanent foreign residents over the past three years reached 42%.

There are also around 430,000 temporary foreign residents in Kazakhstan. Among them, there are 360,000 labor migrants, 8,000 students and 44,000 tourists. 17,000 foreigners arrived to reunite with families.

According to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, it needs to enforce migration laws. Over 7,000 violations detected in May alone during nationwide operations are a clear signal for this.

Bektenov said that it is necessary to address such incidents promptly and actively implement digital tools, such as migrant ID cards, issued at border entry points, to improve monitoring and regulation.

The Prime Minister also gave the Ministry of Internal Affairs the instruction to tighten administrative oversight. He called on the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to enhance regulation of private agencies involved in sending Kazakh citizens abroad for work.

Bektenov concluded that these agencies currently operate without accountability or oversight. He expects the Ministries to propose legislative amendments to require licensing of such activities by year’s end. Bektenov also instructed the Ministry of Labor to submit a draft Concept of Migration and Demographic Policy by October 1, aligning with the Concept of Regional Policy being developed through 2030.

According to the data collected by The Times of Central Asia, in 2025 the majority of foreign labor migrants have come to Kazakhstan from China, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and India. They work primarily in the construction sector.

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Employers have to choose between hiring a foreigner or shutting down the business

Data from the National Employment Service show a steady growth of the number of foreign workers in Serbia. They have issued over 52,000 work permits in 2024, mostly to citizens of China, Turkey, Russia, India, and Nepal.
Although it has become easier to hire foreign nationals due to recent amendments to the Law on Employment of Foreigners, there are some challenges that employers still face, from language barriers to the risk of workers leaving the company.
Equally, the employment of foreign labour in Serbia has become easier due to legislative changes, investment in construction, the emigration of domestic workers, and high demand for workers in the hospitality industry. Nevertheless, reports of an agreement with Ghana on the import of labour have been denied by the Ministry of Labour.
As Jelena Jevtović of the Serbian Employers’ Union told Insajder, there are worker mobility agreements between Serbia and many countries, which causes an influx of foreign workers.
As she noted, they have submitted reform initiatives for the education system for years.
According to Jevtović, the aim of a list of shortage occupations is to facilitate the implementation of the Law on Employment of Foreigners.
It is also necessary to mention the Open Balkan initiative when it comes to employing foreign nationals. Nevertheless, not many people have used that option to enter the domestic labour market.
Also, Insajder discussed with the interlocutor educational profiles that Serbian employers most commonly employ, the procedure, and obstacles are when hiring a foreign worker.
The amendments to the Law on Employment of Foreigners brought a general digitalization last year.
The police, the National Employment Service, and the Central Registry together issue the “single residence and work permit,” and the foreign worker collects it at the Ministry of the Interior.
Nevertheless, the employer can have problems with it, because under the previous regulation, there was the assurance that only he could employ the worker with the permit valid for one year.
It is also necessary to mention issues arising with foreigners from countries under the visa regime. Some of them take advantage of the possibility to travel to other countries after receiving residency approval in Serbia.
Jelena Jevtović also mentions the diverse situation concerning the structure of foreign workers in relation to the parts of the world they come from, and where most of them originate.
Nevertheless, she assesses experiences with foreign workers as mostly positive.
Although, as she says, most foreign workers are generally satisfied with the conditions, there are things they don’t like.

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Reducing Poverty through Employment and Structural Reform is Kazakhstan’s Social Spending Strategy

Kazakhstan is making efforts to improve living standards. Official statistics reports the decline of the national poverty rate as of 2024 to 5%, down from 46.7% in 2001 and the increase of the real wages by 21%. The country doesn’t rely on direct cash transfers for poverty alleviation, but on employment creation and integration into […]

Deputy Minister promises boosted tourism and strengthened ties with China due to visa-free travel

Irakli Nadareishvili, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, and Han Jun, Deputy Director of China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC), discussed strengthening civil aviation ties between Georgia and China at a meeting.
According to Nadareishvili, they should expand cooperation and increase the number of flights operated by Georgian and Chinese airlines. As he noted, passenger traffic has been significantly boosted by the recent introduction of visa-free travel.
The Minister said that the key role in this growth belonged to visa- free travel, and they will add new routes and increase flight frequency, in order to further enhance trade, economic relations, and tourism between our countries.
The number of air passengers traveled between Georgia and China increased by 45 % in 2024 compared to 2023. Direct flights to Georgia are currently operated by China Southern Airlines and Air China. Carriers on both sides demonstrate an increased interest for air cargo.
Givi Davitashvili, Director of the Civil Aviation Agency, and Zhou Qian, Chinese Ambassador to Georgia, also attended the meeting.

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The emigration from Kazakhstan reaches the lowest level in a decade

According to analysts, emigration from Kazakhstan reaches its lowest level in more than ten years. Basing on data from the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan (ASPiR RK), they highlight shifting demographic and economic patterns within the country.
According to the report, only 1700 individuals left Kazakhstan for permanent residence abroad in January- April 2025. For comparison, 4800 people emigrated in the same period in 2024 (2.8 times more). Also, 8100 people entered Kazakhstan between January and April 2025, compared to 9,900 the previous year. This makes the migration balance remain positive, with more people arriving than leaving.
A consistent downward trend is underscored by a longer-term view. Around 155,700 people emigrated in 2000, while this figure had dropped to 12,700 by 2024. There were some notable upticks between 2006-2008 and 2013-2019. Nevertheless, the number of people immigrated to the country was almost two times more than the number who left in 2024 (23,900), what makes migration balance remain positive.
Geographically, Kazakhstan’s northern and eastern regions provide most emigrants. 47.9% of emigrants in 2024 came from the Kostanay, Pavlodar, Abai, North Kazakhstan, and East Kazakhstan regions.
As for destination, Russia continues to be the leader, receiving 69% of all Kazakhstani emigrants. Nevertheless, that number is decreasing dramatically: in Q1 2025, only 644 citizens moved to Russia, 75.5% less compared to the same period in 2024.
Germany occupies the second place with approximately 2,000 Kazakhstani citizens relocated there in 2024, but this number has also declined by 67.9%. Emigration to all traditional destinations has decreased generally, except for Kyrgyzstan. Gradually more people (about 300 annually) emigrate there, particularly from Kazakhstan’s southern regions.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, Kazakhstan’s economic development, increased labor demand, and the diminishing pool of ethnic migrants have caused a decline in emigration.
Another factor contributing to a new influx of migrants into Kazakhstan is population growth in southern Central Asian republics.
According to a 2024 public opinion survey conducted by the Demoscope Express Monitoring Bureau, among the 1,100 respondents, 78.5% said they had no plans to emigrate within the next two to three years. Just 6.9% wanted to emigrate, and 5.6% would like to emigrate but couldn’t do that.
The desire for higher income (24.5%), better employment opportunities (14%), and a perceived lack of prospects within Kazakhstan (23.9%) were the most common reasons for emigration. Studying abroad (11.7%), family reunification (2.6%), and returning to ancestral homelands (0.6%) were other motivations.

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Business people and experts claim the flat-rate taxation threshold changes

Despite significant changes in the economic environment, Serbian small business owners follow the flat-rate tax model for years with the key threshold of an annual turnover of up to six million dinars unchanged since 2013.
The problem is that consumer prices have increased by 70%, diminishing the real value of this threshold significantly and making it increasingly difficult to stay in the system.
Notably, only entrepreneurs who earn less than six million dinars in a calendar year have the right to flat-rate taxation.
But as an expert analysis in the Grey Book published by NALED states, the inflation has eaten away a substantial part of that amount, more and more people are falling out of the system because of basic market dynamics.
As for VAT threshold, there is an even greater inconsistency (eight million dinars). It is based on the last 12 months of business activity, rather than the calendar year, so entrepreneurs can enter the VAT system even if they have not yet surpassed the six million dinar mark in the current year, as the periods do not align.
Another frustrating thing for flat-rate taxpayers is the lack of flexibility in switching between different taxation regimes.
Notably, it is possible to change the taxation method only online via the eTaxes system up until 15 December for the following year. There are he only two transitions in the application: from flat-rate to self-taxation and from self-taxation to the personal salary system. It doesn’t allow a direct transition from flat-rate taxation to the personal salary system the following year.
A 2020 opinion from the Ministry of Finance further complicated this restriction (no. 430-00-7/2020-04), stating that an entrepreneur who loses the right to flat-rate taxation during the year cannot switch to personal salary payments in that same year and must wait until 15 December to apply for the following year.
Practically, this makes an entrepreneur who unintentionally or due to business growth surpasses the eight million dinar threshold exit the flat-rate system and enter the VAT regime.
Analysts in the Grey Book suggest amendments to raise the upper turnover threshold for flat-rate entrepreneurs in the year preceding from six million to eight million dinars, as Croatia and Montenegro did.
To solve the problem, the Ministry of Finance should issue an opinion or enactment on the application of Article 33a of the Personal Income Tax Law, stating that a flat-rate entrepreneur may opt for personal salary taxation upon exceeding the threshold.

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