[Dnevnik] 17.000 seasonal workers withdrawn from the shadow zone

Seasonal workers are engaged from the point of sowing to harvesting – they clean the land, pick raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers... you cn see them in vineyards as early as in February...

And while seasonal workers are visible in the fields, fruit orchards, vineyards.. for the state, they used to be practically invisible - until now. It is hard to provide a precise answer how many people engage in seasonal work in agriculture each year. It is estimated that there are more than 80,000 of them, while the official statistics recorded around 35,000 two years ago. Now, thanks to the web portal for electronic registration of seasonal workers, the situation has changed a lot. The portal has been operating since early 2019, and as a result, the number of registered seasonal workers is now five times higher than two years ago.

There were 5,000 seasonal workers in agriculture registered in May, while the number now reaches 17,000. Seasonal workers were engaged and registered by large agricultural companies, but also small producers and individual farmers - among more than 200 employers, there were 60 agricultural households. The system currently records only seasonal workers in agriculture, and NALED proposes its expansion to tourism, construction and household works.

The entire news article can be read at the link (in Serbian).