Why are young people leaving and why are women abandoning the labour market? Brikena Berisha on “Rrugëtimi”

The labour market, the position of women, the rising cost of living, emigration and the need for reforms in the social protection system were some of the main topics of the eighth episode of the “Rrugëtimi” podcast with editor Jehona Hulaj, whose guest was Brikena Berisha, project manager at the Kosovo Stability Initiative (IKS) and a member of the Women’s Economic Forum.

Berisha spoke about the problems that workers in Kosovo face, and especially women during their entry into and stay in the labour market.

According to her, Kosovo has an interesting situation: girls have a high participation in higher education, but this ratio changes when they have to enter the labour market.

Berisha said that in Kosovo there are around 184,000 women employed compared with around 230,000 men, while a considerable part of the work carried out by women in care and maintenance remains informal.

One of the problems she singled out is the departure of women from the labour market after starting a family. Referring to the statistics on women who have given birth, Berisha gave an illustrative example.

“If you look at ten women with prams walking around Kosovo today, only two of them are on maternity leave, and eight are unemployed”, she said.

Brikena Berisha during the “Rrugëtimi” podcast. Photo: Ridvan Slivova

According to Berisha, childcare should not be treated only as the family’s responsibility.

“Childcare is definitely not the responsibility of the family alone, but must also be the state’s”, she said.

She linked this problem with the number and cost of kindergartens, the way maternity leave is regulated and the financial burden that currently falls on employers in the private sector.

According to her, this can also affect employers’ decisions during recruitment.

“In reality there is a chance they will decide not to employ young girls, because of the possibility of starting a family, which is a very great penalty”, Berisha declared.

The cost of living was also discussed in the podcast.

Berisha said that consumption should not automatically be equated with well-being, referring to data according to which a large part of Kosovo families’ budgets is spent on food.

“A family in Kosovo spends fifty-five percent of its budget, and even up to sixty-five percent of the budget among the poorest families, on food”, she said.

Another issue discussed was emigration. According to Berisha, young people are not leaving Kosovo only because of salaries.

“It is not the salary that is the reason for leaving. It is those systemic problems: healthcare, schooling, social protection, and for these reasons they choose to leave Kosovo”, she said.

At the same time as part of the citizens leave, Berisha said that the arrival of workers from abroad is being observed in Kosovo, especially in sectors such as construction, food delivery and care.

She argued that Kosovo needs a clearer analysis of the professions in deficit and in surplus, so that employment policies and the admission of foreign labour are linked to the real needs of the market.

One of Berisha’s main proposals is the creation of a Social Insurance Fund.

According to her, through such a mechanism, issues such as maternity leave, unemployment, workplace injuries and extended health leave could be addressed, reducing the burden that currently falls on the worker and the employer.

Berisha also called for intervention in the Labour Law, arguing that the current legislation has not been adapted to the changes that have taken place in the labour market. In the end, she stressed that the solutions should not be only temporary measures, but systemic interventions that include education, the labour market, the private sector and social protection.

“We cannot talk about well-being when you are forced to carry on because you have no other choice”, Berisha concluded in one part of the discussion. /Telegrafi/