Statistical Release

According to the Labour Force Survey, in the third quarter of 2025 the number of employed persons was 2 876 600, the number of unemployed persons was 256 500, while the number of persons outside the labour force was 2 470 600.

Compared to the same quarter of 2024, there was a decrease in the number of employed persons by 46 900 and a slight decrease in the number of unemployed persons, while the population outside the labour force increased by 14 700. The employment rate decreased by 0.6 percentage points (p.p.), while the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 p.p., as did the rate of the population outside the labour force, which increased by 0.5 p.p.

Compared to the previous quarter, the number of employed persons decreased by 9 300, and the number of unemployed persons also decreased by 10 500, while the number of persons outside the labour force increased by 15 700. The employment rate decreased by 0.2 p.p. amounting to 51.3%, as did the unemployment rate, which decreased by 0.3 p.p. amounting to 8.2%. The outside the labor force rate was 44.1%, representing an increase of 0.3 p.p.

Total rate of informal employment was 11.9%, where the rate of informal employment in the agricultural sector was 50.8% and in non-agricultural sectors 6.8%.

(r) revised data

Table 1 Basic indicators of labour market trends of persons aged 15 and over, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
	%	p. p.	p. p.
Activity rate	55.9	-0.3	-0.5
Employment rate	51.3	-0.2	-0.6
Rate of informal employment (total)	11.9	0.5	-0.4
Rate of informal employment, excl. agriculture	6.8	0.7	0.7
Rate of informal employment in agriculture	50.8	0.4	-1.9
Unemployment rate	8.2	-0.3	0.1
Longterm unemployment rate	3.7	0.0	-0.3
Out of labour force rate	44.1	0.3	0.5
NEET rate (15-24)	13.5	1.7	0.4
NEET rate (15-29)	15.1	1.2	0.1

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Table 2. Population aged 15 and over, by working status, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter		Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
	(in thousand)	(in thousand)	%	(in thousand)	%
Total population	5603.7	-4.0	-0.1	-32.8	-0.6
Active population	3133.1	-19.8	-0.6	-47.5	-1.5
Employed	2876.6	-9.3	-0.3	-46.9	-1.6
Formally employed	2534.8	-21.7	-0.8	-29.8	-1.2
Formally employed, excl. agriculture	2371.4	-14.9	-0.6	-8.5	-0.4
Formally employed in agriculture	163.4	-6.9	-4.1	-21.3	-11.5
Informally employed	341.8	12.5	3.8	-17.2	-4.8
Informally employed, excl. agriculture	173.4	17.2	11.0	19.9	13.0
Informally employed in agriculture	168.4	-4.8	-2.8	-37.1	-18.1
Unemployed	256.5	-10.5	-3.9	-0.6	-0.2
Out of labour force	2470.6	15.7	0.6	14.7	0.6

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	15 and more	15–24	15–64	15–74	15–89	20–64	25–64
Activity rates	55.9	30.7	73.1	62.2	56.2	78.4	81.3
Employment rates	51.3	23.5	66.9	57.1	51.6	72.0	75.3
Unemployment rates	8.2	23.4	8.5	8.2	8.2	8.2	7.4
Out of labour forse rates	44.1	69.3	26.9	37.8	43.8	21.6	18.7

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Table 4. Population aged 15 and over, by working status and sex, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Total
Total population	5603.7	-4.0	-0.1	-32.8	-0.6
Active population	3133.1	-19.8	-0.6	-47.5	-1.5
Employed	2876.6	-9.3	-0.3	-46.9	-1.6
Unemployed	256.5	-10.5	-3.9	-0.6	-0.2
Out of labour force	2470.6	15.7	0.6	14.7	0.6
Male
Total population	2699.8	-1.7	-0.1	-15.3	-0.6
Active population	1699.1	-22.4	-1.3	-43.6	-2.5
Employed	1571.8	-5.1	-0.3	-32.1	-2.0
Unemployed	127.3	-17.4	-12.0	-11.5	-8.3
Out of labour force	1000.6	20.6	2.1	28.2	2.9
Female
Total population	2904.0	-2.2	-0.1	-17.4	-0.6
Active population	1433.9	2.6	0.2	-4.0	-0.3
Employed	1304.8	-4.2	-0.3	-14.9	-1.1
Unemployed	129.2	6.9	5.6	10.9	9.2
Out of labour force	1470.0	-4.9	-0.3	-13.5	-0.9

Table 4a. Activity, employment, unemployment and population out of the labour force rates of persons aged 15 and over by sex, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Total
Activity rates	55.9	-0.3	-0.5
Employment rates	51.3	-0.2	-0.6
Unemployment rates	8.2	-0.3	0.1
Out of labour forse rates	44.1	0.3	0.5
Male
Activity rates	62.9	-0.8	-1.3
Employment rates	58.2	-0.2	-0.9
Unemployment rates	7.5	-0.9	-0.5
Out of labour forse rates	37.1	0.8	1.3
Female
Activity rates	49.4	0.1	0.2
Employment rates	44.9	-0.1	-0.3
Unemployment rates	9.0	0.5	0.8
Out of labour forse rates	50.6	-0.1	-0.2

Table 5. Population aged 15-24 by working status and sex, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Total
Total population	670.5	-0.3	0.0	-0.8	-0.1
Active population	206.0	-12.9	-5.9	-16.3	-7.3
Employed	157.7	-11.4	-6.7	-16.8	-9.6
Unemployed	48.3	-1.5	-3.0	0.4	0.8
Out of labour force	464.5	12.6	2.8	15.5	3.5
Male
Total population	344.0	-0.1	0.0	-0.2	-0.1
Active population	129.9	-6.9	-5.0	-12.9	-9.0
Employed	100.3	-7.0	-6.5	-12.9	-11.4
Unemployed	29.6	0.1	0.3	0.0	0.0
Out of labour force	214.1	6.8	3.3	12.7	6.3
Female
Total population	326.5	-0.2	-0.1	-0.6	-0.2
Active population	76.1	-6.0	-7.3	-3.5	-4.4
Employed	57.4	-4.4	-7.1	-3.9	-6.4
Unemployed	18.7	-1.6	-7.9	0.5	2.7
Out of labour force	250.4	5.8	2.4	2.8	1.1

Table 5a. Rates of activity, employment, unemployment and population out of the labour force of persons aged 15-24 by sex, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Total
Activity rates	30.7	-1.9	-2.4
Employment rates	23.5	-1.7	-2.5
Unemployment rates	23.4	0.6	1.9
Out of labour forse rates	69.3	1.9	2.4
Male
Activity rates	37.8	-2.0	-3.7
Employment rates	29.2	-2.0	-3.7
Unemployment rates	22.8	1.2	2.0
Out of labour forse rates	62.2	2.0	3.7
Female
Activity rates	23.3	-1.8	-1.0
Employment rates	17.6	-1.3	-1.1
Unemployment rates	24.6	-0.2	1.7
Out of labour forse rates	76.7	1.8	1.0

Table 6. Population aged 15-64 by working status and sex, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Total
Total population	4100.3	-10.4	-0.3	-41.8	-1.0
Active population	2995.9	-13.5	-0.4	-34.0	-1.1
Employed	2741.4	-5.9	-0.2	-34.6	-1.2
Unemployed	254.4	-7.7	-2.9	0.5	0.2
Out of labour force	1104.4	3.0	0.3	-7.8	-0.7
Male
Total population	2050.5	-4.7	-0.2	-19.3	-0.9
Active population	1610.4	-17.5	-1.1	-35.7	-2.2
Employed	1483.9	-1.3	-0.1	-25.5	-1.7
Unemployed	126.5	-16.2	-11.4	-10.2	-7.5
Out of labour force	440.1	12.8	3.0	16.4	3.9
Female
Total population	2049.8	-5.7	-0.3	-22.5	-1.1
Active population	1385.4	3.9	0.3	1.6	0.1
Employed	1257.5	-4.6	-0.4	-9.0	-0.7
Unemployed	127.9	8.6	7.2	10.6	9.0
Out of labour force	664.3	-9.7	-1.4	-24.2	-3.5

Table 6a. Rates of activity, employment, unemployment and population out of the labour force of persons aged 15-64 by sex, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Total
Activity rates	73.1	-0.1	0.0
Employment rates	66.9	0.1	-0.1
Unemployment rates	8.5	-0.2	0.1
Out of labour forse rates	26.9	0.1	0.0
Male
Activity rates	78.5	-0.7	-1.0
Employment rates	72.4	0.1	-0.5
Unemployment rates	7.9	-0.9	-0.4
Out of labour forse rates	21.5	0.7	1.0
Female
Activity rates	67.6	0.4	0.8
Employment rates	61.4	0.0	0.3
Unemployment rates	9.2	0.6	0.7
Out of labour forse rates	32.4	-0.4	-0.8

Table 7. Population aged 15 and over by working status and region, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Total
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	5603.7	-4.0	-0.1	-32.8	-0.6
Beogradski region	1424.7	0.4	0.0	-1.5	-0.1
Region Vojvodine	1463.8	-0.7	0.0	-7.9	-0.5
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	1530.4	-1.6	-0.1	-10.9	-0.7
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	1184.9	-1.9	-0.2	-12.4	-1.0
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...	...	...
Active population
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	3133.1	-19.8	-0.6	-47.5	-1.5
Beogradski region	854.4	6.7	0.8	11.4	1.4
Region Vojvodine	792.5	-10.7	-1.3	-31.1	-3.8
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	845.5	-22.4	-2.6	-19.8	-2.3
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	640.7	6.7	1.1	-8.0	-1.2
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...	...	...
Employed
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	2876.6	-9.3	-0.3	-46.9	-1.6
Beogradski region	794.9	4.1	0.5	1.4	0.2
Region Vojvodine	728.4	-23.1	-3.1	-27.2	-3.6
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	776.1	-10.8	-1.4	-23.7	-3.0
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	577.2	20.6	3.7	2.5	0.4
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...	...	...
Unemployed
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	256.5	-10.5	-3.9	-0.6	-0.2
Beogradski region	59.5	2.6	4.6	10.0	20.2
Region Vojvodine	64.0	12.4	24.0	-4.0	-5.9
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	69.4	-11.7	-14.4	3.8	5.8
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	63.5	-13.9	-18.0	-10.5	-14.2
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...	...	...
Out of labour force
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	2470.6	15.7	0.6	14.7	0.6
Beogradski region	570.3	-6.3	-1.1	-12.9	-2.2
Region Vojvodine	671.3	10.0	1.5	23.2	3.6
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	684.9	20.8	3.1	8.9	1.3
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	544.2	-8.6	-1.6	-4.4	-0.8
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...	...	...

Table 7a. Rates of activity, employment, unemployment and population out of the labour force aged 15 and over by region, III quarter 2025

	Q3 2025	Changes relative to previous quarter	Changes relative to same quarter of the previous year
Activity rate
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	55.9	-0.3	-0.5
Beogradski region	60.0	0.5	0.9
Region Vojvodine	54.1	-0.7	-1.9
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	55.2	-1.5	-0.9
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	54.1	0.7	-0.1
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...
Employment rate
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	51.3	-0.2	-0.6
Beogradski region	55.8	0.3	0.2
Region Vojvodine	49.8	-1.5	-1.5
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	50.7	-0.7	-1.2
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	48.7	1.8	0.7
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...
Unemployment rate
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	8.2	-0.3	0.1
Beogradski region	7.0	0.3	1.1
Region Vojvodine	8.1	1.7	-0.2
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	8.2	-1.1	0.6
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	9.9	-2.3	-1.5
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...
Outside the labour force rate
REPUBLIC OF SERBIA	44.1	0.3	0.5
Beogradski region	40.0	-0.5	-0.9
Region Vojvodine	45.9	0.7	1.9
Region Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije	44.8	1.5	0.9
Region Južne i Istočne Srbije	45.9	-0.7	0.1
Region Kosovo i Metohija	...	...	...

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In the third quarter of 2025, 12 525 households, i.e. 28 018 persons aged 15 and over, were interviewed.

Rounding rules

The results of the Labor Force Survey are published rounded to thousands, with one decimal place. Total values (summaries) do not always agree with the sum of the individual data, given that the ratings given in statistical publications are calculated using unrounded numbers (which gives more accurate data).

Methodological notes

Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the most complex and internationally comparable instrument for labour trends monitoring, registering demographic and socio–economic characteristics of population aged 15 and over.

The main aim of the survey is to obtaining data on three main, mutually exclusive, contingents of population: employed persons, unemployed persons and outside labour force population.

Active population (labour force) is an additional aggregated category and it includes all employed and unemployed persons.

Activity rate presents the percentage share of active population (employed and unemployed) in the total referent population (aged 15 and over, i.e. in the indicated age group).

Employed persons are the persons (aged 15-89) who, in the reference week, performed a paid job for at least one hour (in cash or in kind), including unpaid family workers, as well as persons who had a job, but were temporarily absent from work in that week.

Employment rate is the percentage share of employed persons in the total population (aged 15 and over, i.e. in the indicated age group).

Formal employment includes persons who have a formal and legal employment contract, persons who are founders of registered companies or entrepreneur shops or perform independently an activity based on registration in relevant government institutions.

Informal employment is considered to be work in unregistered companies, work in registered companies without an employment contract, as well as the work of unpaid family workers.

Informal employment rate is the share of informally employed persons in total employment.

Unemployed persons are the persons (aged 15-74) who, in the reference week, did no work for remuneration, who undertook active steps to find a job during four-week period ending with the reference week and who were able to start working in two-week time after the referent week.

Unemployment rate presents the percentage share of unemployed population in the labour force / active population (employed and unemployed).

Long-term unemployment rate is the share of individuals in the labour force (employed and unemployed) who have been unemployed for more than one year.

Outside the labour force population includes all persons aged 89 and persons between 15 and 89 years who were not employed or unemployed in the referent week according to the definitions of employment and unemployment.

Outside the labour force rate presents the percentage share of outside the labour force population in the total referent population (aged 15 and over, i.e. in the indicated age group).

NEET rate – refers to the share of persons aged 15 to 24 (or 15 - 29) neither employed, nor in education, training, in the total population of that age.

More detailed description of the Survey methodology can be found at the link Methodology

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia has not had data for the AP Kosovo and Metohija since 1999, so they are not included in the total data for the Republic of Serbia.

DATABASE

Reference metadata

Labour Force Survey, III Quarter 2025

In the third quarter of 2025, the number of employed persons was 2 876 600, the number of unemployed persons was 256 500. The employment rate was 51.3%, while the unemployment rate was 8.2%.

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