Prishtinë, May 04, 2006 – According to a KTV report the Workers Day found Kosovo with 50% unemployment and with a half implemented Collective Agreement, signed four years ago.

Economy experts believe that the privatization process has increased the unemployment level. Over 132,000 families live off social aid (€60 per month.)

According to economy expert Safet Gerxhaliu, Kosovo is first on the list of employees’ violations of rights and the unsolved status is the only thing restraining the employees from causing a social crisis. “You know very well that the privatization process contributed more to unemployment than it did to employment,” Gerxhaliu pointed out.

Another problem bothering employees is the non-implementation of the Collective Agreement. According to BSPK officials, the implementation of the Collective Contract has stagnated in several points, such as travel and allowance payment; overtime work payment and nightshift payment.

Kosovo has approximately 30,000 job seekers per year while companies and the businesses have only 5,000 vacant working places per year.

The annual requests for employment in Kosovo increase for 5%. With the aim of decreasing the high rate of unemployment, UNDP and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MLSW) signed memorandums with five small private companies for employing 31 people.

The abovementioned is part of a program for employment generation, through which UNMIK, Local institutions, UNDP and Denmark allocated € 2 million. According to the program, 1,500 jobseekers are expected to receive one-year contracts in 2006.

Permanent UNDP Representative in Kosovo, Freud Mauring, stated that the high rate of unemployment in Kosovo should be acknowledged and more should be done to reduce it.

The Government can provide only one working place for employment, Civil Administration, which is already overloaded. According to MLSW Minister Ibrahim Selmanaj, the ministry is focusing on developing employment policies with the aim of generating new jobs.

ECIKS

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