Neither at school nor at work

“I have a trade, I'm a cheater of ceramic plates, but there's no work on good conditions”, he tells Radio Free Europe.

I worked 11 months in a company and I'm not paid. So I'm desperate with people. It works, works... when the month is up, they don't give you your salary”, goes on to confess J.M.

He does not want to mention why he has not continued his schooling. He says his mother, who receives a monthly pension of about 200 euros, helps him with the day's expenses.

What do I do? Stay home... It's hard without a job, especially now that prices have increased”, J.M. says.

Like one who does not attend education or any training and are not employed, there are close to 100,000 Kosovo residents aged 15 to 24.

This data has recently published the Kosovo Statistics Agency, based on a survey of the workforce.

The data for the first quarter of 2022 also showed that more than 1.2 million working-age citizens, over 380 thousand are employed, over 77 thousand are unemployed, and about 750 thousand are economically inactive, which means they are not employed, nor registered as unemployed, nor are they looking for jobs.

According to the AKS, the unemployment rate in Kosovo in the first quarter of 2022 has been 16.6 per cent.

Danger From Social Problems

Artan Krasniqi, sociologist at the University of Pristina, tells Radio Free Europe that young people who are not working, are not under way education and do not attend any training, are disturbing.

“Even the state, even society, is enough with the fact that Kosovo has the greatest potential of youth and that it is thought that this potential self-canalizes... There have been very few policies and programmes that help this potential reach higher levels”, Krasniqi says.

Kosovo has a new population, with an average age of 35.

Sociologist Krasniqi says that if for these young people, proper policies, whether employment, training or schooling, may have social problems in the future.

“S first remain a burden of society, family and later the state. Also, it is not ruled out that these young people seek the migration route”, Krasniqi says.

The trend of migration of Kosovo citizens, according to official figures, is on the rise. According to the AKS, in 2021, over 42,000 residents left Kosovo. In 2020, when the Corleone pandemic broke out, over 8,000 emigrated from Kosovo; in 2019 over 34,000; in 2018 over 28,000.

University of Pristina social science professor Behxhet Ghaxhiqi says that even if the number of young people who don't attend education, training or not are at work, to be 10,000, it's disturbing, let alone 100,000.

He says the central and local institutions should draft policies for providing training, at least.

This age of population is the most vital part of society and should not be allowed to remain in this situation. The future of these young people may be inconsistent and, as such, may end up in the Government's social schemes with minimal means of living”, Ghaxhiqi tells Radio Free Europe.

Kosovo, with over 1.7 million inhabitants, has 15 social and pension schemes, which benefit over 400,000 citizens.

In addition to unemployed and economically troubled citizens, social schemes also benefit relatives of martyrs, war veterans, pensioners of age and so on.

What do economic experts say?

The reason Kosovo has this number of young people who are neither in education, nor in training, nor employed, lies with education and training that is provided. They are not qualitative and in line with the labour market”, says economic affairs expert Ismet Mulaj, the former minister of trade and industry.

The labour market in Kosovo, he adds, needs cooks, waiters, workers in the production and wood sector.

These professional training needs to be offered to these young people, so they can find themselves in Kosovo. Our young people are discouraged to look for work, to be employed, or to attend any training”, Mulay says.

In recent years, Kosovo's market has faced labour shortages, especially the private sector.

According to some surveys conducted by Radio Free Europe, but even by job Inspectorate data, citizens have complained of low wages, lack of job time, deprivation from rest, and so on.

As a result, many employers have hired workers from abroad.

What have the authorities done?

In Kosovo, the Employment Agency is the main institution in the area of employment and professional training.

This agency provides training for over 30 profiles of various professions, including moth, bricklayers, plasterers, cooks, bakers, then for welding, business management, hairmaker and others.

To attend such training, registration is required on this agency as a job worker, and training is then provided at professional training centers.

At the Kosovo Employment Agency last year, over 82,000 job seekers have been registered.

To ease youth unemployment, the Kosovo government in February of this year has opened the platform “superpuda”, which targets young people from 18 to 25.

In its context, the Government of Kosovo subsidies the employer by paying the worker's salary for six months, worth 264 euros. The employer then has the right to increase the wage value for the hired worker.

After a six - month period, the employer can keep the worker employed by signing a new contract, but he can download it.

Authorities have said they aim at employing over 10,000 young people on this platform in the first year.

In the 2022/2023 school year, at a professional school in Pristina has also started dual teaching, according to which skills at a particular company are combined with subjects in a professional school.

From Kosovo government have said earlier about REL that this practice can encourage more young people to see their future in Kosovo.