BELGRADE (Serbia), July 19 (SeeNews) – Serbia is the global leader in terms of the number of jobs created in 2017 relative to population size for the second year in a row, according to the Global Location Trends 2018 annual report of US technology company IBM.
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are ranked first and third in the world in terms of the number of jobs created last year compared to the size of their population, with the Western Balkans cementing their leading position, IBM said in the report published on Tuesday.
"The Western Balkans saw mixed overall results, with Serbia maintaining a stable strong performance, Bosnia and Herzegovina tripling inward investment and Croatia and Macedonia both experiencing serious declines of more than 60%," IBM said.
Serbia continues to receive significant inward investment in key sectors such as textiles, transport equipment, chemicals and electronics, with manufacturing activities accounting for almost 80% of all jobs created from foreign direct investment, IBM said.
The continued strong performance by Serbia and the wider Western Balkans on this measure testifies to the region’s growing success in attracting foreign investment and cementing its position in global value chains.
"While the performance of individual countries varies from year to year, the region as a whole is experiencing a sustained high level of interest from foreign investors," , IBM noted.
Serbia ranked 15th in the world in terms of the total number of jobs created in 2017, while Romania occupied the 18th spot.
Serbia climbed four positions to 43rd place in the Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs report of the World Bank Group, the bank's Serbian office said in October. In addition, Serbia was among the top 34 countries worldwide in terms of improving their business environment in three or more areas in 2016/2017.