Albania: Youth Unemployment at 50%

A Study on Youth Employment conducted by the AGENDA Institute and MJAFT Movement, with the support of the World Bank, shows that Albania remains in huge problems regarding employment related issues.

The young people aged between 15 and 32 constitute the majority of the unemployed in Albania. The people who were born after 70?s are considered as the ?lost generation?, concludes the Study. Albanian unemployment rate is extremely high which in turn results in our country being among the poorest in the region. Only 50% of the working population is employed during the last four years.

The Study also noted that young people who do not have the adequate education are unemployed. It denounced the government?s incompetence to come up with concrete employment policies. It is the youth and the under-educated people that are directly affected by the informal trend of employment.

Youth employment is very crucial. It is estimated that reducing the unemployment rate at global level by half from the actual rate 14.4% to 7.2% and focusing on concrete youth employment policies would add 4.4% to the global GDP.

?It is high time to pay attention to policies regarding young people otherwise Albania risks losing a generation of its economy, mainly composed of the people born in the 70s,? concludes INSTAT?s 2004 study, ?People and work in Albania?.

For additional information and excerpts from the study, visit MJAFT?s media department web-page.