American Oda urges minimum wage to be taken based on private sector competitiveness

Following recent calls by the minimum wage-growing political groups, the American Economic Oda in Kosovo through communique for the media reiterates its stance that the minimum wage should be reflecting economic parameters in the country and should not be changed without taking on the competitiveness of the private sector.

The American Oda believes that free labor power is a major factor that affects not only business competitiveness but also Kosovo's efforts to attract foreign direct investment.

In addition, the minimum wage increase could exacerbate even more unemployment among young people, as well as less skilled workers, who are usually part of the minimum wage beneficiaries group, while according to the Kosovo Statistics Agency's Workers' Survey, Kosovo has a high unemployment rate among young people by over 55%.

For this reason Oda American urged the Parliament and Government to avoid decisions that could spur the deterioration of such indicators at any cost, despite short term benefits