Young men leaving: We want better working conditions and higher salaries

It shows that twice it has applied for a working visa at the German Embassy in Pristina. The first time she has managed to obtain Schengen visa, she is currently waiting to receive an answer to the new request.

I got the first time I worked there. But now the second time is a very long wait. In March 2017, I have made the term, waited a year to deliver the necessary documents, and there is a year and a half waiting for an answer from the” embassy, Beqiri relates.

Unable working conditions in the private sector are one of the reasons that are being cited as the main problem by the Union of Independent Unions of Kosovo, (BSPK) that are forcing young people to leave the country.

BSPK Chairman Avni Aydini, in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, says that in the private sector, workers continue to feel ignored by employers, whether their working conditions, safety, lack of respect for the schedule or even for the payments they accept.

Aydin says that even though the Labour Law is in effect in Kosovo, this law has not always been implemented in this sector. For this reason, according to him, Kosovo's own policymakers have disappointed the young people in Kosovo, and especially leaving the <x0ndgrier” the minimum wage of 130 to 170 euros a month since 2011.

New people are down. In the private sector, workers work 12 hours while paying for 8 hours, employers abuse the worker, and even no breaks. It's eight hours in the contract and it's paid in eight hours. Salaries are too small. So the workers have been depressed and therefore our youth is trying to abandon Kosovo. The salary in the private sector should be around 500 euros”, Aydin says.

He considers that with the implementation of the Labour Law and the Kolecitive Accounting, and with the provision of employers violating workers' rights, the situation in this sector would improve and, according to him, the interest of young people from this sector would be dim to abandon Kosovo.

Nobody would abandon their country if paid about 500 euros a month. Kosovo institutions have many opportunities to improve the situation in this sector. But they don't care about the workers. If our youth flees to European Union countries, it is a huge defeat for both Kosovo and the economy”, Ajdini considers.

Even Besarit, who currently receives 250 euros a month, says that if there were better pay and more favourable conditions for work, he would never think to abandon Kosovo.

If I had better working conditions, I wouldn't leave the country. I think no one is willing to abandon their country, but conditions, circumstances, politics has made Kosovo not have a future for anyone”, he says.

The private sector in Kosovo is considered the biggest employer. The sector estimates that more than 250 thousand workers work at an average salary of 384 euros a month.

The increasing interest in citizens to leave Kosovo in search of a job in either of the European Union countries or even wider, had also prompted Kosovo's Parliament to discuss an extraordinary session.

There, MPs have seen this phenomenon as quite disturbing. However, according to them, unlike the past, when Kosovo citizens have emigrated illegally, there is now a legal migration where citizens are going to different European countries with working visas.

By contrast, the latest data published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Government of Kosovo, reportedly for the period 2013-2017 on average per year have emigrated up to 35 thousand Kosovo citizens.

During 2013-2017 from Kosovo, according to these data, which account for the Kosovo Statistics Agency, have emigrated more than 170 thousand citizens. This data has included regular and irregular migration and that a considerable number emigrated seeking asylum.

Kosovo remains the only country in the Western Balkans region whose citizens have not been enabled free visa-free movement, on the part of the European Union.