Kosovo job seekers prepare for European market

Professionals, for which jobseekers are skilled at eight centres, which are extended across Kosovo: welders, different professions in the construction sector, accountants, water installations, electrocutor, bricklayers, various professions in the gastronomy sector and others.

All professional skills in these centers are free.

Jehona Rexha, head of the Department for Professional Terms under the Kosovo Employment Agency in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, suggests that between January and August there are 3,451 job seekers who are being trained for various professions.

The Employment Agency is responsible for managing the labour market, implementing employment and skills policies, and all the profiles for which job seekers qualify are in line with labour market requirements. We, in advance, before opening a profile, do a job market research on what is being required and then with the support of our donors and budgets, try to adapt to these requests”, Rexha says.

Prepared for the European Market

Jehona Rexha says the professional skills centres ensure the third level of qualifications meant by the semi-qualified worker.

According to her, jobseekers, who are skilled at these centres, are prepared for the job market in Kosovo as well as the European market.

The last couple of years we've had a huge flow of job seekers who've received training, have been certified and have gone abroad, not that we have a state agreement with the state, but that the employment agency's certificates have been recognised by the European market”, Rexha points out.

In these professional skills centres, Rexha shows, only persons who register as unemployed can be trained. The most required skills professions, Rexha points out, are in the construction sector.

While, job seekers who mostly require training are between the ages of 18 and 35. However, she says that compared with the large number of unemployed, the interest of jobseekers in skills is not satisfactory.

According to Kosovo Statistics Agency data, in the second quarter of this year the unemployment rate has reached 29.4 percent, compared to 26.5 percent in the preceding quarter.

Visa liberalisation and impact on labour market

Representatives of the American Chamber of Economics in Kosovo say the country's institutions should urgently address the preparation of labour force frameworks. The executive director of the American Chamber of Economics, Arian Zeka, tells Radio Free Europe that businesses in Kosovo have expressed their concerns about job frameworks.

He stresses that the idea has also been set up for representatives of the private and educational sector to work on narrowing the gap in the domestic professional frameworks.

“Plus, as far as Kosovo's workforce is prepared for the European Union, this is the risk that is being posed in our country, where, after liberalisation, there may be an influx of persons who are already vulnerable to the labour market and can seek a better perspective in the member states of the European Union. This would not be a innovation only for Kosovo, it is a trend that continues to all Western Balkan states”, Zeka points out.

He adds that in professional skills centres job seekers in certain professions, they may have been well equipped for the job market, as these centres are supported by foreign donors.

Meanwhile, Mehmeti lives from the Institute for Advanced Studies “GAP” tells Radio Free Europe, that Kosovo needs a national employment strategy, which further includes sectors required in the labour market in the region and in the European Union.

“In a national respect, our state does not have any strategy, under which it is known what European market requirements are and in that direction push our young people to prepare. But, in an individual way, there are certain sectors for which our young people are prepared to start working on the European market. In the information technology sector and in the health care sector, our young people have shown that they are competitive with the young people of Europe, and thus, apart from language barriers, they have had no problems compared to the European market”, Mehmeti points out.

Visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens, Mehmeti adds, would be a good opportunity for young people from Kosovo -- those who are prepared -- to consider the possibility of formal employment on the European market.

“With visa liberalisation would mean not automatically that they are employed in European Union countries, but that in no way prevents them from seeing employment opportunities within that visit and then meeting the formal demands of European employers, establishing working relationships. In this regard, the young ones who are prepared and within the professions that Europe's market needs will be able to establish working relationships, either for a certain time or then for a long term”, Mehmet explains.

Otherwise, Kosovo is awaiting visa liberalisation. The European Commission on July 18th of this year decided that Kosovo has fulfilled all criteria and recommended the European Union liberalise visas for Kosovo citizens.