Youth Cooperatives in Serbia
Youth co-operatives have existed in Serbia (and several other former Yugoslav republics) since 1938. Their main purpose is to familiarize young, unemployed people with the world of work by finding them short-term job opportunities. Today, there are some 300 such co-operatives with 200,000 members in Serbia and Montenegro. Youth co-operatives exist in most urban locations of Serbia that have more than 1000 inhabitants. They have formed a national co-operative union with an office in Belgrade The youth co-operatives are fully self-financed and receive no subsidies from the state. They enjoy excellent working relations with both trade unions and employers’ organizations.
How does it work?
Young people in the age bracket from fifteen to thirty years can register with the nearest youth co-operative and they will be issued membership cards. Each new member is expected to contribute the equivalent of 3 € to the co-operative’s share capital, but this amount is paid only after the youth has found a job through the co-operative. The co-operative then matches the new member’s profile with the requirements of different private and public employers who have offered job opportunities. When a suitable opening is found, the young person can work in the respective company for a maximum period of four months. Thereafter, the employer may decide to hire the youth for a longer period of time; if that does not occur, the co-operative will try to find another short-term job opportunity.
While working for an employer, young people are paid and are covered by the social insurance scheme. The co-operative accepts youths with any background, from those without any formal education to university graduates. Jobs are offered in a wide range of public and private occupations, such as banks, hospitals, translation services, construction companies etc. About 20% to 30% of those who find a short-term job through the co-operative system are successful in finding permanent employment.
Co-operative aspects
The degree of membership turnover is obviously very high in this type of co-operative. This notwithstanding, youth co-operatives are governed by the general co-operative law of Serbia (adopted in 1996 and currently under revision), and they apply the basic co-operative principles (“one member – one vote”). Each co-operative organizes at least one general assembly (called “the Big Parliament”) per year, which elects the board of directors (“Small Parliament”), the president of the co-operatives, and a delegate to the General Assembly of the national union. The management and administration of the co-operative is financed by a 10% deduction from member salaries. The co-operative is in fact doing the entire payroll work for the employers, who transfer the gross salary amount for all employed youth to the co-operative, which then makes various deductions for taxes and social security before paying the individual members.
The national union of youth co-operatives organizes different events for young people throughout Serbia, facilitates co-operation between co-operatives (thus improving the functioning of the labour market), and organizes exchange visits between young co-operators from Serbia and those from our countries.
Impact
Thanks to the Serbian youth co-operatives, every year some 200,000 young people are gaining their first exposure to the world of work and thus improving their employability. Out of those, some 50,000 youth are being hired on a permanent basis. Even those who are not employed permanently do receive a salary during the short-term assignments, and are covered by social protection schemes. The system also familiarizes young people with the co-operative concept, and many of them do form their own co-operatives afterwards.
The youth co-operative model encourages youth participation and ownership in a domain, (i.e., job exchange), which otherwise is often driven by profit motives alone. As the president of the national union formulated it: “Co-operatives have a soul”.
Jürgen Schwettmann is the chief of the co-operative branch of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva.
