What can the Albanian government do to effectively combat youth unemployment?

Abstract

Youth unemployment in Albania continues to be critical, despite improvements during the last years. According to INSTAT (INSTAT, 2021) youth unemployment in December 2020 was 21.7%, 0.3 % higher than a years ago. Young graduates are the ones who suffer the highest levels of unemployment. The same report, while analyzing the unemployment rate by educational level, showed that about 14.4% of young people with secondary education and 12.3% of young people with higher education, are unemployed. The more progress advances, the more its contradictions are identified. Economic growth produces wealth, but it fails to secure jobs to everyone. By far, free market economy enhances a variety of unlimited opportunities, but it leads to hardships and inequalities, as well. The un-finished debate on “globalization” and its impact on markets, seems to hide the changes that have occurred on social relations sphere, which affect the people’s social welfare. The generation of 21st Century is challenged by a new social conflict. Whilst in the yesterday’s era, the conflict was between those below and above the threshold of income, in the present society, the conflict is “from outside to inside”, in other words, the conflict between inclusion and exclusion. In the today society, especially after Covid, youth unemployment appears a global challenge. Access to jobs can bolster self-esteem and produce benefits for societies beyond incomes. Programs that support employment for at-risk populations, including youth, can consider the ways in which jobs affect peoples’ attitudes, values, and behaviors and contribute to improved relations between groups. Arguably, in countries with high youth unemployment, like Albania, targeted training programs as well as empowerment of entrepreneurship through financial incentives, have the potential to be designed to strengthen self-esteem, which can lead to greater community involvement and reduced inequality and exclusion. The paper “ What can the Albanian government do to effectively combat youth unemployment” advances the argument of effectiveness of employment policies, which must support initiatives that originate from young people themselves. The best entrepreneurship practices from Shkodra and Vlora, two important regions of Albania are elaborated in depth to provide necessary evidence, thanks to a research, supported by OSCE mission in Albania, Extra Budgetary project “Promoting regional intermunicipal co-operation and dialogue for self-employment of women and youth”. The paper is composed of four sections in addition to introduction and conclusions. Section 1 explores in depth features of local employment policies and their impact on socio and economic performance of Shkodra and Vlora. Section 2 describes the methodology of the assessment. Section 3 analyses in depth best practices, while section 4 emphasizes key findings, which provides inputs to comparative analysis, as a basis for the identification of conclusions. Of value is the view point of entrepreneurs from Shkodra and Vlora counties, man and women, who in extremely difficult conditions work hard and producer values for themselves and the entire communities, proving that it is possible to build a future anywhere in Albania, no matter of circumstances.