UNMIK ON AIR
Youth Unemployment
By Arta PLANA
Hello and welcome ... you’re listening
to UNMIK ON AIR program .... I’m ...
Last year in October, the
International Labor Organization with the Ministry of Labor, and the Ministry
of Culture Youth and Sport conducted research to identify the main elements
causing youth employment and unemployment as a whole in Kosovo.
This initial report was sent to Head
Quarter of the ILO in Geneva, and recently the report has been returned with recommendations.
Valli Carboneze from International Labor Organization in Pristina explains the
main points from the report:
Soundbite:
What the report is saying is partly good news partly
bad news. The good news is that it appears that the level of education of young
people in Kosovo is increasing, which means that people eventually will have
better job opportunity.
On the other hand it appears that
economy in Kosovo is not creating enough jobs to absorb all the number of young
people that are getting high school diploma or university degree.
Young people in Kosovo are aware that
getting a higher education will help them to improve their employment
opportunities.
Vox pop:
After finishing high school I made
a little pause, and during that time I realized that without studying I would
not have any perspective and that is the reason way I decided to study, in
order to have a better future for my family and myself.
According to Zylkifli Obërtinca,
Director of the Centre for employment in the Pristina region, there are around 63.000
jobseekers registered, most of them are young and have only a high school
diploma.
Soundbite:
Approximately 500 young jobseekers
we register during one-month period, in all kind of profession, and at the
present our regional centre for employment manages to find jobs for some 200
job seekers.
A young girl Nergize Zborci, is
preparing to graduate from the Economy Faculty of the University. She visited
the Employment Center to look for a future job. She is quite aware of the
current situation and tough conditions for employment, therefore she thinks she
needs extra education.
Soundbite:
Today I came here, I am interested
to find a job, I have seen some adverts so I’m interested, I made some notes in
my notebook, and I also heard about the courses that are going to be held this
month, they are free and very important for getting employment.
Education is important and provides an
advantage to the job seeker, but there is consideration - what are the most in demand professions today
in the labor market? Zylkifli Obërtinca Director of the Centre for employment
in Pristina
Soundbite:
Administrative assistant, business
management, servicing on electronic equipment, then courses for languages
especially English, computing and so on.
At the Center for Employment advisers
are trying to interview jobseekers, in order to note their skills and in a way
prepare them for their future in the working world.
Basrije Pllana, one of the advisers
describes how they deal with the job seekers.
Soundbite:
When job seekers come here they
usually don’t have any idea regarding job, our aim is to get the idea out of
them, to orientate them, to match the qualities …Interview last for about 30 to
45 min.
According to the report on youth
unemployment five out of ten young adults cannot today find a job in Kosovo. While
many of those who do have a job either are working under poor conditions or do
not work full-time.
Up to 50% of employed youngsters work
in what is called the ‘informal economy’: they are not officially registered as
employees and they do not have job contracts.
The ILO report will be presented to
Kosovo Government and Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare the Ministry of
Education and Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, and will be used as a tool
in the development of the governments youth employment policy.
Natural sound :
Finally the analyses is being done,
we have finished the research
(Valli is talking to Skender
Boshtrakaj, head of the Youth Department)
This International Labor Organization
report is the first one that specifically deals with employment issues of youth
between ages of 15 and 24 years in Kosovo. Based on the findings of the report
the Youth Department of the Ministry of Culture is trying to create an action
plan, in order to tackle the problems in this area.
Skender Boshtrakaj, Head of the Youth
Department in the Ministry of Culture:
Soundbite:
An important part in the plan of
the movement for youth will be used (taken) from data of this report, and the
part that actually refers to the politics of youth employment will practically
be build from this report.
And with this we ends today’s’ program
from the Studios of UNMIK Radio, tomorrow our feature is on the subject of
returns in the Prizren region, thanks for listening