PRIZREN/ORAHOVAC, Kosovo — Annoyed by the job prospects in Kosovo, the place unemployment is astronomical and prospects are bleak amid rampant corruption, Dusan Stojanovic and Kerim Pervizaj opted to return to their households’ artisanal previous to pay the payments.
Stojanovic now toils over a potter’s wheel, churning out crockery and different objects whereas Pervizaj works with tin to provide dishes, cookers, and even ovens.
Each are completely happy to be working and being profitable, however annoyed and even ashamed they could not discover the roles for which they have been educated.
Discovering jobs has lengthy been a problem for the 1.8 million individuals of Europe’s latest nation, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to push its forces out of Kosovo. Unemployment stood at a whopping 25.5 p.c in 2020, based on information from the World Financial institution.
Youth unemployment is off the charts, hovering close to 50 p.c. Kosovo is a younger nation, with a median age of 29.5 years, the bottom in Europe. And lots of of these younger individuals at the moment are certified for extra expert jobs as by no means earlier than as college enrolment has risen lately.
These fortunate sufficient to seek out work are sometimes remunerated poorly, with pay solely a fraction in comparison with comparable positions elsewhere in Europe. Provided that actuality, many in Kosovo have left in quest of a brighter future overseas, specifically the EU.
The considered getting out has crossed the thoughts of Stojanovic, who lives in Orahovac in western Kosovo, an ethnic Serbian enclave, recognized in Albanian as Rahovec.
“There is no such thing as a future, and I really feel a way of disgrace. The general public I do know have left for a greater life and it has labored out for them. It is in all probability probably that I will need to do the identical, though I have been in opposition to it,” Stojanovic informed RFE/RL’s Balkan Service.
“Why did I get an schooling? I wasted my dad and mom’ cash, and I will not be capable of pay them again for years, not to mention deal with myself.”
Stojanovic, 30, bought a school diploma in 2014, adopted 5 years later with a grasp’s diploma in occupational security engineering. He despatched out résumés and made queries to companies and establishments in Kosovo, together with these owned or run by ethnic Serbs.
“My associates inform me that I went to highschool for nothing, which hurts. Many have gotten married, discovered work even with a high-school diploma, and I’ve neither,” he laments.
As time ticked by and with no job in sight, Stojanovic contemplated turning to pottery, a talent he realized from his father in his childhood.
Now he works alongside his father, persevering with a household custom that stretches again 5 generations. He mentioned the work requires endurance, because the clay requires hours to dry earlier than it may be painstakingly painted after which baked in a particular oven.
Simply 40 kilometers away in Prizren, Kosovo’s second-largest metropolis, Pervizaj has an identical story to inform. He graduated with a bodily schooling diploma in 2019, specializing in soccer coaching and training, however has had no luck touchdown a job.
“I handled loads of injustices once I tried to get a physical-education job right here in Prizren. They accepted individuals who had decrease {qualifications} than me. I took motion a number of instances to show this. I had no luck,” Pervizaj informed RFE/RL.
Not like Stojanovic, Pervizaj is married and felt the strain much more to seek out gainful employment. However like Stojanovic, he too turned to artisanal work by turning into a tinsmith, additionally a household commerce by custom.
Each agree their destiny will not be distinctive in Kosovo, with many younger individuals going through comparable issues and challenges in addition to the dilemma of whether or not to remain or go to hunt a greater life overseas, often someplace within the EU.
“One step ahead, two steps again — that is the scenario right here. Younger professionals are leaving as a result of they cannot get a job or one which pays the minimal wage. My cousin used to make 400 euros (about $400) right here, and now [in Germany] 3,000 euros. It will likely be a tricky choice, but when I’ve to I will depart,” concluded Pervizaj.
The gulf in common wages between Kosovo and EU international locations “is staggering,” based on the World Financial institution. “Amongst younger staff (ages 15-29), the best entry-level wages in Kosovo are obtained in public administration with an annual wage of round 5,000 euros. The bottom wages are accrued in entry-level positions in commerce, manufacturing, building, public utilities and agriculture, starting from 3,000 to three,700 euros (based mostly on survey estimates). In distinction, reported entry place annual wages in IT and telecommunications are between 30,000 and 44,000 euros in Austria, Germany, and the U.Okay. in comparison with a broad estimate of 5,000 euros in Kosovo,” the report mentioned in 2019.
Younger individuals in Kosovo will proceed to face challenges discovering jobs in Kosovo that match their expertise and talents, predicted Ismail Hasani, a retired sociologist and former lecturer on the College of Pristina, in feedback to RFE/RL.
Discovering a job in Kosovo “usually comes with many challenges,” the World Financial institution mentioned.
“Kosovo has the youngest inhabitants in Europe with a median age of 29.5 years, and youth are the nation’s nice asset. The final decade has seen a big improve within the variety of younger individuals attending college. Discovering an excellent job upon commencement is a vital milestone for younger individuals, however the transition to employment in Kosovo usually comes with many challenges. Discovering options to enhance instructional and employment alternatives for younger individuals is crucial to Kosovo’s improvement,” the World Financial institution mentioned.
In response to the info of the Company for Statistics of Kosovo, within the second quarter of 2021, barely greater than 95,000 residents between the ages of 15 and 64 have been unemployed. Of the 40 p.c of younger individuals who have been on the lookout for a job, 15 p.c had some larger schooling.
In response to information from the Kosovar Training Ministry for the educational yr of 2021-2022, roughly 42,000 college students have been enrolled at 9 public universities with 6,200 graduating with levels final yr.
In the identical interval, about 8,400 individuals attended grasp’s research, and 1,659 of them graduated. With regards to doctoral research, for 2021-2022, there have been 328 individuals enrolled on the College of Pristina, and 30 of them acquired doctorates. There are additionally personal colleges, attended by about 29,000 college students.
A slew of things are conspiring in opposition to all these graduates on the lookout for work, based on the Regional Youth Cooperation Workplace (RYCO), an NGO specializing in the Western Balkan nations. “Gradual financial progress, the mismatch between schooling coverage and labor market calls for, in addition to corruption and nepotism, have led to large graduate unemployment” in Kosovo, RYCO mentioned in 2021.
RFE/RL reached out to the Pristina authorities with questions on measures it’s taking to sort out unemployment, particularly amongst youthful Kosovars, however didn’t obtain any response.
In March, a authorities spokesman, Perparim Kryeziu, informed RFE/RL {that a} fee had been established to review learn how to reform the academic system to raised meet the wants of the present labor market.
Within the meantime, the exodus of the nation’s youthful era to locations additional west is prone to not solely proceed however intensify, Hasani predicted.
A 2018 Gallup ballot on mind drain discovered the issue to be probably the most acute within the Western Balkans. The findings confirmed that 42 p.c of these questioned in Kosovo expressed a need to to migrate, the best such determine for Europe and third on this planet.
Regardless of guarantees from Brussels, Kosovo stays the one nation in continental Europe moreover Russia and Belarus exterior the EU’s visa-free regime, which permits these exterior the bloc to enter the Schengen space for 90 days over a six-month interval.
As an alternative, individuals in Kosovo want to use for a visa to the EU and the Schengen space, a time-consuming and costly course of. Regardless of these roadblocks, Hasani mentioned many in Kosovo are able to pay to go away the nation, illegally if crucial, satisfied that “elsewhere a greater future awaits them.”
