Over 180 thousand Kosovars registered as unemployed

These measures forced many businesses to close first and then, after the release of the measures, to act on restrictions. This led many owners to fire workers.

I'm out of work, my husband doesn't work either. By March 13th, I worked, and then the owner took me away. I've been looking for work everywhere, but there's no one at once”, she says about Radio Free Europe. It has received only 170 euros in state aid, but now it cannot enjoy any other assistance.

Workers, who were suspended or fired after May, are not included in the Kosovo Government's Fiscal Emergency Pack, nor in any other package. The application to take advantage of this package is closed on May 15th.

The emergency fiscal package, worth about 180m euros, was intended for workers who lost their jobs, following the announcement of emergency measures, to benefit from 170 euros for the next two months (April and May).

So far, due to lack of budget, only one payment has been made.

The payment for May could be made after the adoption of the revised 2020 budgetary division law, which is currently under review by the Kosovo Assembly.

Jobs have been lost in the private sector, which is the biggest employer in Kosovo. Over 220,000,000 workers are estimated to work in this sector.

Yusuf Azem, chairman of the independent private sector Union, tells Radio Free Europe that workers are being laid off every day and that they are no longer receiving any state aid.

The Kosovo government has received no obligation for these workers who are losing their jobs every day. It's a bad situation. Companies have resumed work, but workers have not been called to start work. For now, the majority of workers in the private sector do not have a 100 percent salary; they get about 60 percent, as company owners are being called to what they are not being helped by the state and cannot pay workers”, Azemi says.

At the Employment Agency of Kosovo, the number of those enrolled as unemployed following the situation created by the COVIDD-19.

The number of registered persons as unemployed in this agency has reached over 180 thousand.

The agency's general director, Drin Harachia, told Radio Free Europe that 80 thousand citizens are registered as unemployed in March alone.

If we look at the numbers to date (23.07,2020), the total number of registered unemployed is over 180 thousand citizens. Mostly, larger municipalities lead with the largest number of unemployed. The largest number of registered unemployed is during the pandemic. In March, about 80 thousand citizens registered as unemployed”, Harachia suggests.

It shows that registered unemployed are being provided training under professional training centres, but, according to him, training has also been reduced due to measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the disease that causes the choreographer.

Jobseekers registered at the Kosovo Employment Agency based on their profiles, Harachia adds, intercede with businesses, but now, he says, have dropped the demand of businesses for workers.

Muharrem Shahini, spokesman at the Ministry of Finance, told Free Europe Radio that in this respect, workers will come to the aid of the Government of Kosovo through the Bill on Economic Recovery.

The draft economic recovery bill has been adopted by the Kosovo government on July 22nd and sent to the Kosovo Assembly.

The Kosovo Assembly must review this bill so that it can then be approved in any of the plenary sessions.

According to Sahin, this bill provides legal grounds for implementation of programmes aimed at overcoming socioeconomic consequences, caused by the pandemic COVID-19.

Kosovo's “government considers that through the programme for economic recovery will return the pace of economic growth, aggregate demand in the country will increase, and prospects will be opened for strengthening the production, export and service sector”.

So, in this context, the Government of Kosovo aims that through measures to promote economic activity, not only to preserve current countries but to generate new jobs, always being willing to offer support to all social categories of society”, Sahin says.

The economic recovery programme, which amounts to 385m euros, adds Sahin, aims to revive economic activity in the country through measures supporting a wide range of economic sectors, with potential for growth and job creation.

Although the first phase of relief measures in Kosovo began on May 4th, some restrictions on businesses are still in force, which have led many of these to reduce their activity and therefore reduce the number of workers.

Since July 6th, gastronomy businesses have been banned from exercising their activity between 9:00 and 5:00.

Meanwhile, according to recent decisions, activities in public and private gardens have been suspended; recreation, cultural and sports activities.

Also suspended has been work on public markets, automobiles and animal markets.

Years of data published by the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK) have shown that unemployment in Kosovo has been ongoing high.

In 2019, according to AKS, unemployment was 25.7 percent.

Kosovo has suffered from unemployment over the years. Average economic growth in Kosovo has failed to ease these problems. According to Kosovo Central Bank projections, the pandemic COVID-19 will affect a reduction in economic growth from -2 to -4 percent.

According to the International Monetary Fund, after the pandemic, Kosovo's economy is expected to shrink by 5 per cent.