Kosovo running out of workforce

I.K (known name for proofreading) says he was employed in a private company for a year, but has left the workplace and does not want to work in the private sector and nowhere in Kosovo, because, he says, poor working conditions and low pay.

I worked in a business business at Ferizaj. Work hours have been eight hours, but I've been working even harder and haven't been compensated for overtime. The salary has been low 250 euros a month, I've quit my job due to conditions and I haven't had a job contract. I haven't worked anywhere in a year and I don't want to work on such a job that doesn't pay and offer good conditions for workers”, says I.K.

He says he does not see Kosovo as a country where he can be employed and have a dignified salary and a job with better conditions.

“I applied for a working visa in Croatia and am waiting to go there to work because of the pay and better conditions that that the country offers”, he says.

According to official data from the Kosovo Statistics Agency, the average salary in the private sector in Kosovo is 384 euros, while in the public sector the average salary is around 500 euros.

Kosovo's workers' shortage has also highlighted businesses. They are now complaining that they are unable to find workers despite the country's high unemployment rate, which, according to the latest data from the Statistics Agency, stands at 26.9 percent.

Based on business data, the lack of workers is more pronounced in the construction sector, in the hotel, and in some sectors where seasonal jobs are worked.

Brahim Selimaj from the Kosovar Business Alliance and owner of the construction company “Elsa”, which is held in Pristina and Pec, tells Radio Free Europe that Kosovo is facing lack of workers.

“Finding the workforce has become a problem in Kosovo, this has resulted from authorities' failure to stop the migration of young people from the country. Young people, however, need to realize that even in the west, there is no better life than there is in their home country. Businesses in Kosovo also fail to find qualified workers for a given job there are a lack of frameworks in different profiles, which is due to the educational system where there is no profile for what the labour market requires, Selimaj says.

The lack of workers, according to representatives of the Independent Private Sector Union, has resulted from young people leaving the country and poor working conditions. Yusuf Azem, chairman of this Union, tells Radio Europe that the lack of workers will only deepen in the future.

The “are many elements that now lack workers in Kosovo because initially from 2017 to now, over 170 thousand qualified workers have released Kosovo. These more reasonable citizens also see it as not working and receiving money from the diaspora rather than working on a salary of 130 euros. Kosovo has remained without adequate workers, since company owners have not been able to appreciate workers and offer dignified working conditions, and the day will be even more serious than we are currently”, Azem says.

Meanwhile, Brahim Selimaj, owner of the construction company “Elsa”, says that with this trend of young people leaving, businesses would be forced to seek workers abroad within a short period.

I think that in a medium-term plan, we will search out workers from nearby countries and elsewhere because there will be no workforce in Kosovo”, he says.

It has recently been reported that many young people, mainly legally, have released Kosovo and have found jobs in some of the European Union countries.

According to a report published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Government of Kosovo, it is said that for the period 2013-2017 on average per year, up to 35 thousand Kosovo citizens have emigrated and that the devastating portion of migration had included the new age groups, mostly 25-44.

As for visa applications, according to data from the Schengen Visa Information System, between 2014 and 2018, more than 400,000 visa requirements are said to have been registered.

Of the total number of Schengen visa applications, positive decisions or visas issued are about 80 per cent, until only 20 per cent of applicants have been rejected.

Germany leads with the largest number of visa requirements, made up of Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia and other states.