by Sandrine Cazes
ILO Senior Specialist, Employment and Labour Market Policie
Overview and main challenges
The armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s seriously affected the national economies and labour markets not only of the countries directly involved in the conflicts, but also the neighbouring countries. Direct war damages, economic embargos imposed on the belligerent countries, the lack of domestic capital for necessary large-scale restructuring, and a reluctance of foreign capital to come to the region due to political and economic uncertainties all contributed to a much slower recovery and to high unemployment and underemployment within the population. In order to boost economic restructuring and growth in these countries, stabilize their political and social development, assist in resolving their disputes and pending problems, and accelerate their integration into the European Union, the Stability Pact (SP) was concluded in 1999.
Among the Stability Pact objectives, identification and analysis of the major problems and challenges in the area of social and employment policy is indicated as a very important issue for the future successful development of these countries within an integrating Europe. Indeed, since 1989 all the SP countries have experienced dramatic employment losses, and employment continued contracting even when they emerged from economic recession. Apart from Albania, none of the SEE countries have reached anything like their 1989 levels of GDP.
In general, trends in employment rates have reflected trends in GDP, although they fell more slowly than GDP. The level of registered unemployment is very high and unemployment has a long-term character. Many jobless persons are first-time jobseekers, but young workers also experience heavy labour turnover and a high incidence of short-term employment. Also characteristic of these countries is a big difference between registered unemployment and unemployment measured according to the ILO definition – with registered unemployment higher as many formally jobless persons are active in the informal sector (see table 1).
Table 1. Overall and youth unemployment rates, selected years
|
|
Registered
unemployment
(%) |
LFS
unemployment
(%) |
Youth
unemployment
(15/24 years - %) |
|
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
|
| Albania |
16.8 |
14.5 |
16.2 |
15.0 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
25.9 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
39.4 |
39.9 |
42.7 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
| Bulgaria |
17.9 |
17.3 |
17.8 |
13.7 |
16.3 |
19.4 |
18.1 |
13.7 |
35.1 |
38.4 |
35.6 |
– |
| Croatia |
21.1 |
22.0 |
22.3 |
– |
16.1 |
15.8 |
14.8 |
– |
43.1 |
41.7 |
– |
– |
| Macedonia |
53.7 |
– |
– |
– |
32.2 |
30.5 |
31.9 |
36.9 |
59.8 |
56.1 |
– |
– |
| Moldova |
2.1 |
2.0 |
1.9 |
– |
8.5 |
7.3 |
6.8 |
– |
14.4 * |
– |
– |
– |
| Romania |
10.5 |
8.6 |
8.1 |
6.6 |
7.1 |
6.6 |
8.1 |
– |
18.6 |
17.5 |
22.2 |
– |
| Serbia and Montenegro |
21.2 |
22.3 |
24.7 |
29.9 |
12.6 |
12.8 |
– |
– |
49.6 |
– |
– |
– |
|
| * Up to 29 years of age. |
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| Sources: ILO, UNECE, Eurostat |
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Other population groups – those in employment or inactive – frequently have second jobs in the informal sector. Typically, informal sector jobs are of temporary nature and low quality, insecure and unprotected against work accidents, occupational diseases, etc. As the capacity of the formal economy to create new jobs is limited, informal employment is the only option for a large part of those in less competitive population groups – young people without work experience, the elderly, women, persons with health problems, workers with low education levels and demilitarized soldiers. According to household surveys on the social situation, major factors often combined with poverty include unemployment (and particularly long-term unemployment), and also informal sector employment (see table 2).
Table 2. Long-term unemployment and poverty levels, selected countries
|
|
Long-term unemployment
(%) |
International poverty line
(different years – see note) |
|
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
Population
with income below
USD 1 per day (%) |
Population
with income below
USD 2 per day (%) |
|
| Albania |
– |
90.2 |
89.6 |
91.8 |
– |
91.3 |
16.1 1 29.6 1 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
19.1 3 |
– |
| Bulgaria |
55.3 |
58.7 |
63.1 |
65.5 |
– |
4.7 3 |
23.7 3 |
| Croatia |
50.2 |
53.4 |
55.9 |
56.4 |
– |
<2 2 |
<2 2 |
| Macedonia |
83.8 |
83.3 |
– |
– |
– |
<2 1 |
4 1 |
| Moldova |
19.5 |
24.8 |
58.1 |
59.6 |
– |
22 3 |
63.7 3 |
| Romania |
45.2 |
49.2 |
48.6 |
56.5 |
– |
2.1 2 |
20.5 2 |
| Serbia and Montenegro |
79.6 |
81.6 |
74.8 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
|
| 1 1998 |
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| 2 2000 |
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| 3 2001 |
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What is the ILO doing?
The South Eastern Europe Ministerial Conference on Employment, held in Bucharest on 30–31 October 2003, acknowledged serious employment challenges faced by the Stability Pact countries, and called for regional cooperation in addressing these challenges through major improvements in national employment policies. The ILO and the Council of Europe were asked to provide strategic guidance and support in this effort. The organizations developed a joint project to guide the tripartite constituents in the SP countries in undertaking an in-depth assessment of their national employment policies. The ILO and the Council of Europe will comment on and improve this assessment, and discuss its findings and relevant policy conclusions with the constituents at a tripartite national conference. As a follow-up, both organizations can also assist the countries, upon request, in reflecting these policy recommendations in national employment policies and in launching appropriate employment programmes.
Another area of activity relates to labour market information. In general, the statistical systems of EU accession countries have broadly reached EUROSTAT standards, while in the SP countries of SEE, reliable and updated labour statistics are not always available. The ILO is pursuing a program of technical cooperation activities with its constituency in this field, to promote sustainable statistical capacity as a basis for effective development policies– especially in countries with a high percentage of poor people. While it covers all SP countries in the SEE region, the project devotes particular attention to the poorest countries involved in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, and Serbia and Montenegro). Its principal objective is to enhance the effective use and dissemination of labour market information in order to support policy makers, analysts and researchers in the formulation, analysis, design and evaluation of labour market policies, as well as monitoring of PRSP in the sub-region. The programme includes various types of activities, such as the development of appropriate labour market indicators, the provision of technical guidance through a sub-regional training workshop, and the promotion of local tools of dissemination – such as website modules, press packages, Bulletin or newsletters that enable users to download and comment on indicators (see below).
Another important field of activity relates to youth employment in the sub-region. As in other regions, young people tend to fall into a trap in which they are unable to get jobs that would provide them the essential skills needed to make them employable. Many cannot afford to be unemployed, and instead work long hours in the informal economy, for low wages, with little prospect for advancement and no social protection. ILO activities in the sub-region include technical support and policy advice, in collaboration with the secretariat of the Youth Employment Network (YEN), on meeting the challenges of youth employment. (See separate article on the trade union sub-regional seminar on youth employment, organized in Belgrade on 10–13 November 2003).
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| ILO Film |
| Fully fit at work |
Film about the advantages of employing persons with disabilities. As this ILO film (Fully Fit at Work) shows, not only may people with disabilities be more productive, they may actually be more skilled in some jobs than non-disabled people. Produced for the ILO by the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
Watch the film online in Polish with English subtitles. Duration: 21 min 11 sec
If the video is not displayed, download the free RealPlayer™
Press release in English and
Polish |
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