Analysis of youth underemployment in Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia

The objective of the study is to describe underemployment and investigate its effect on personal wellbeing in the three countries. Special reference to gender will be made. By so doing, it opts to bring the issue to policymakers’ agenda and formulate ideas for policies tackling underemployment.

Methodologically, we first set underemployment a function of personal and local-labor-market characteristics. We rely on Heckman models – binary- and ordered-outcome ones – to overcome the potential selectivity bias into underemployment. For the ordered case, we use a CMP estimator. We then regress personal welfare on underemployment and worker’s characteristics. As welfare is latent variable, we rely on MIMIC model. To overcome potential endogeneity of underemployment, we specify third regression in the model whereby observables and exogenous instrument determine underemployment. The average local/municipal wage at the time when the person became (under)employed is used as instrument.

The School to Work Transition Surveys (2014-2015) are used.

 

Donor: Partnership for Economic Policies

Duration: 2017-2019

 

Technical assistance to local LESCs and the ESA

The objective of the project is to provide technical assistance to the Employment Service Agency for implementation of three distinct employment measures at the local level.

 

Donor: International Labor Organization

Duration: May – December 2017

 

Forecasting the size and effects of emigration and remittances in four Western-Balkan countries

The project aims to forecast the size and effects of remittances and emigration in 4 Western-Balkan (WB) countries, through a novel method: Delphi questionnaire.

In particular, the project has the following tasks: 1) to provide a literature overview of forecasting remittances and emigration; 2) to collect data through a Delphi questionnaire from economic experts and remittance-receivers; 3) to forecast remittances and emigration based on the data obtained in (2); 4) provide policy recommendations based on the forecasted trends; and 5) to compare forecasted trends among the 4 countries.

 

Donor: Regional Research Promotion Program

Project partners: ACSER Albania, FREN Serbia, Individual researcher Kosovo

Duration: 6 months (2016)

 

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Project meeting, Istanbul, Turkey, 27-30 October 2016 – Аgenda – Gallery

Round table “The future of remittances and emigration: Can they be forecast?”, 22 November 2016, Faculty of Economics, Prilep – Invitation and agenda – Gallery

Infographs – Macedonia – Serbia – Albania – Kosovo

Media appearance – MRT – Telma – Nova Makedonija

Web site

Forecasting results – Маcedonia – Serbia – Аlbania – Коsovо

Policy study

 

Challenging unemployment in the Western Balkans: Enhancing active labour market policies in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia

The main objective of the project is to contribute to improvement of active labour market policies and boosting employment in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia.

More specific objectives of the policy advocacy are: (a) to identify legal, financial, and practical weakness in employment policies which result in their low efficiency and low effectiveness; (b) to inform and expand knowledge of key stakeholders in the field; (c) to empower stakeholders to make informed decisions by providing relevant analysis and feasible policy recommendations in this area; and (d) to put the issue of ALMP on the respective agendas of relevant decision-makers in these three countries.

 

Donor: European Fund for the Balkans

Partners: Analitika – Center for Social Research (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Agenda Institute (Albania)

Duration: January – August 2016

 

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Round table, Skopje, 20 October 2016 – Аgenda – Gallery – Messages 1 2 3 4

Policy brief – Policy memo – Policy study

 

Promoting Active Inclusion of Disadvantaged Persons Excluded from the Labour Market

Overall objective of the project is to increase the activation of persons at risk of social exclusion in the labor market by improving their skills, education, qualification and facilitating their full integration into the society and the labor market.


This overarching objective is broken down into specific purposes involving concrete interventions on three fronts:

  • Purpose 1: Improve the efficiency of employment and social services as a way of promoting the social inclusion of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups by assisting professionals from the Employment Centres and the Centres for Social Work in developing new skills as ‘Mentors for Social Inclusion’;
  • Purpose 2: Empower vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and give them the skills and experience required to breaking down the hurdles they encounter on their journeys into long-term work and independence through a pre-employment training program and work placements or internships in local businesses and social enterprises;
  • Purpose 3: Foster improvements in service delivery by designing new family support services, raising public awareness, and developing effective partnerships among key
    stakeholders (local self-government units, governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations involved in service delivery, social partners, education and training providers) to produce results on the ground.

 

Donor: European Commission – Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance

Partner: Childcare and Family Center (KMOP) – Athens, Greece

Duration: 20 months (January 2016 – August 2017)

 

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CALL FOR TRAINING PARTICIPATION for increasing of employability of socially-vulnerable category of citizens  – Training APPLICATION

Newsletter 1 2

Competition for pieces of art – Report and assessment

Trainings for disadvantaged groups – Skopje – Ohrid – Veles – Kumanovo

Policy brief 17 – Could social mentorship increase employability in our country?

Mentorship manual – Measure and service protocol – Internship guidelines

Closing conference “New measures for new jobs” – Agenda – Gallery

 

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CALLS AND TENDERS

Call for tender 02-279 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 02-295 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 02-315 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 02-316 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 02-325 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 02-377 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 03-213 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 03-221 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Call for tender 02-411 – Offer submission request – Offer form

Vacancy announcement

Offer announcement – interpreter

Call for tender -Trainer 02-198/01

Call for tender-Expert 03-337/01

Vacancy announcement – financial officer

Call for companies

Call for tender 02-83 – Offer announcement – Form

 

Mind the gaps between the budget lines and the programs of the National strategy for poverty reduction

The project aims to increase the effectiveness and usage of poverty-reduction programs by increasing the transparency of the associated budget lines and informing the citizens about them.

Short-term goals:

  • Identification and mapping of the weak links between the budget lines and the poverty-reduction programs;
  •  Increasing citizens’ awareness of the programs for poverty reduction they can be eligible for;
  • Increasing the awareness of the civil and research sector of the effectiveness of poverty-reduction programs’ implementation (budget expenditure).

 

Provider: USAID and Foundation Open Society Macedonia

Duration: 2013-2014 (10 months)

 

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(1)Policy brief: “How to increase the effectiveness and utilization of the programs for poverty reduction?”

Response by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy

Mini-interview for the national bi-lingual Alsat-M

Thematic Graphometrix

Article in the magazine Face in Face

 

 

 

 

Booklet: Mind the gaps between the budget lines and the programs of the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction MKD version – ALB version

Thematic web site: www.siromastija.mk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Migration as social protection: Analysis of Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian remittance-receiving households

The objective of the research is to investigate if remittances sent to Macedonia, Albania and Serbia serve social protection for household members left behind.

In particular, we will analyse if and how remittances determine/influence social condition (stability or vulnerability) of the household, the latter being described through an index composition of the income level, employment status, nourishment, health and housing conditions. For the purpose of the study, we aim at defining social stability/vulnerability not in traditional terms – only as “dollar a day” – but rather in terms of household’s ability to meet their basic needs aside income: nutrition, health services, housing, leisure and the like. This touches upon Green’s (2014) recent note that “being poor and sick is very different from being poor and healthy” and defines social stability in this multidimensional framework.

The key tasks include:

  • developing a literature overview linking remittances to social protection and social vulnerability;
  • devising an indicator of social vulnerability;
  • econometric investigation of the causal links between remittances and social vulnerability;
  • deeper qualitative investigation through interviews of the linkages between and contexts of the two phenomena (remittances and social vulnerability);
  • devising policy proposals;
  • wide communication with the policymakers and the public.

 

Donor: Regional Research Promotion Program

Duration: 2 years (2014-2016)

 

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Project meeting, Rome 2-5 April 2015 – Agenda – Gallery

Media appearance – Ekonomski horizonti – RevolucionerMK

RRPP Annual conference presentation, Ohrid 28-29 May 2015 – Resources

Round table, 10 June 2015 – Invitation – Agenda – Gallery – Presentation

International Conference on Eurasian Economies, 9-11 September 2015, Kazan Russia – Presentation – Proceedings

Training & Project meeting, Amsterdam 16-20 March 2016 – Agenda – Gallery 1 2

Workshop “Migration and its Consequences for Albanian Households”, Elbasan, Albania, 8 September 2016 – Agenda

EBES International Conference, Vienna, Austria, 28-30 September 2016 – Picture

Economic forum, Skopje, 22 September 2016 – Agenda – Gallery

 

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Policy briefs – Macedonia – Albania – Serbia

International book “Migration as social protection”

Journal article in International Migration

 

Simulation of a voucher policy for improving the social condition of individual remittance receivers in Macedonia

The purpose of the study is to develop a simulation of potential voucher system for social protection of individual members of the households receiving remittances in Macedonia.

Specific objectives:

– To conduct analysis for Macedonia at the individual level (using the DotM Remittance Survey 2008)

– To develop an econometric model;

– To simulate the effects of potential voucher for protection of socially vulnerable individual recipients of remittances by simulating the effects on the health indicator of the recipient.

 

Donor: Partnership for Economic Policies

Duration: 2014-2015 (1 year)

 

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Policy brief – ENG – MK

Working paper

Policy conference – Invitation – Gallery

Journal paper

 

Empowering women in Krushevo through mini clastering for sales and promotion of traditional products

Тhe objective of the project is to improve the living standards and social inclusion, and to reduce poverty in Krusevo, through association (mini-clustering) of women for production and sale of local, domestic, traditional and ecological, home-made products.
The short-term goals include:

Prompting social inclusion and interaction through association of individual producers, unemployed housewives;
Promoting awareness for investing in their skills to pull out of poverty and improve their lives;
Establishing system for production and promotion of local home-made products, in order to encourage and increase production, sales and promotion;
Strengthening the awareness among policy makers for the need of mini-clustering of individual producers of traditional food, as a tool to promote local economic growth and improve socio-economic conditions.

 

Donor: The Embassy of USA in Skopje

Duration: 2014-2015 (12 months)

 

Call for participants

Application for participation

Training for production, marketing and sales skills – Gallery 1 – Gallery 2 – Gallery 3

New Year Bazaar “Craft Art Fest” Participation – Gallery

Fair “It’s homemade, it’s from Krushevo…” – Gallery

 

Youth self-employment in households receiving remittances in Macedonia

This project aims to explore if remittances may be used to support the entrepreneurial activities of unemployed youth in households receiving remittances, in an environment of global economic crisis, tightened credit conditions, lack of venture capital financing and the malfunctioning labor market.

Low job creation and high unemployment are the most important problems of Macedonia. The youth unemployment rate of 55% remains persistently high. On the other hand, Macedonia receives remittances of outward migration in the amount of above 20% of GDP annually. Their usage, however, remains largely unknown. This proposed research aims to explore if remittances may be used to support the entrepreneurial activities of unemployed youth in households receiving remittances, in an environment of global economic crisis, tightened credit conditions, lack of venture capital financing and the malfunctioning labor market. We will use the Remittances Survey conducted in September/October 2012 to explore the probability that a young person will enter self-employment if his/her household receives remittance. We propose two techniques: i) propensity score matching, so as to find similar, in characteristics, non-receiving households, as those receiving remittance; and ii) instrumental variables approach, so as to account for the potential endogeneity of remittances with respect to the decision to establish own firm. We expect that our findings would enable us to propose policy recommendations in the fiscal, social, and labor-market sphere, aimed at channeling the large amount of remittances in Macedonia into generating jobs for youth.

 

Provider: International Development Research Center

Duration: 2013-2014 (1 year)

 

Project’s web site