The IT Labor Market in the Western Balkans: Exploratory Evidence from Online Job Postings

Abstract

The initial data collected for the year 2024-2025 included a total of 4036 job advertisements in the IT sector. After a detailed data cleaning process, the final sample for the descriptive analysis was reduced to 1609 valid advertisements. However, information on salary was limited, as only 104 advertisements contained accurate and usable data on annual compensation. In this context, descriptive analyses were conducted on the entire sample of 1609 advertisements, while for cases with salary information, an OLS regression model was applied to assess the relationship between salary level and factors such as required technologies, work style and role characteristics. Given the relatively limited number of salary observations, the analysis is conceived in an exploratory manner and does not aim to produce general statistical conclusions for the entire labor market. The overall results provide a picture of the regional IT sector market which mainly operates on the basis of a combination of technical skills, rather than on the basis of a formal work model.

Received: 17 January 2026 / Revised: 24 February 2026 / Accepted: 7 March 2026 / Published: 25  March 2026