American Chamber: 82% of businesses in Kosovo challenged by lack of staff and skills

The lack of workforce and the necessary skills is raising business costs, lowering productivity and limiting growth potential — these are among the main findings of two studies published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo, as Klan Kosova reports.

The studies, titled “Workforce Skills and Business Needs in Kosovo” and “The Economic Impact of the Lack of Workforce and Skills in Kosovo,” were carried out within the Workforce Development Initiative, with the support of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), which is part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They include businesses of different sizes from manufacturing, financial services, ICT, trade, professional services, hospitality and tourism, health and other sectors.

The findings show that 63.7% of businesses consider it difficult or very difficult to recruit qualified workers; technical skills are the hardest to find, while marked shortages are also evident in sales, management, leadership, engineering and digital skills. 50% of businesses report reduced productivity, 33.3% higher labour costs and 21.6% delayed investments.

In sectoral terms, manufacturing emerges among the most affected sectors: 87.5% of manufacturing businesses report difficulties in recruitment, especially for engineering, technical and production profiles, while 62.5% report a drop in productivity; in retail trade, 80% report recruitment difficulties. The second study says 82% of businesses report staff shortages or skills gaps, with additional spending on recruitment, overtime, temporary workers and training — while 73% of businesses assess that adequate access to workers with the right skills could increase their output or revenues by at least 6% over the next 12 months, and more than a third assess a growth potential of over 10%.

Faced with these challenges, 92.1% of businesses offer training regularly or from time to time, while 84.4% invest up to €20,000 a year in employee training; at companies with 250 or more employees, 71.5% invest over €20,000 a year. But employers rate the match between graduates’ skills and business needs at only 48.2 out of 100.

The American Chamber of Commerce has recommended strengthening vocational education and training according to market demands, expanding internships and workplace learning, involving businesses in curriculum development and creating incentives for training, as well as more structured cooperation between the private sector, educational institutions and public institutions.