The European Union is funding programmes to encourage North Macedonia’s youth to stay home and start businesses – but despite that, emigration is not slowing down.
Zdravko Dobrevski owns the Zlatno Bure ethnic village in Kuchkovo, close to the North Macedonian capital, Skopje. He’s been struggling to find staff for years. Last summer was especially challenging. “I stopped all advertisements because we couldn’t serve all our guests. The lack of staff became a serious problem,” he told BIRN.
“About a quarter of my facility is not working due to a lack of staff. We have capacity for a thousand guests but because of the problems we can only accommodate four hundred. We have been struggling with a staff shortage for two years. Last year, we turned away 200 guests because we couldn’t accommodate them,” Dobrevski said.
Under the EU for Youth programme, the European Union has allocated 15 million euros to support implementation of the “Youth Guarantee” in the three least developed regions of North Macedonia.
Benefits of the programme include career counselling, orientation and motivation training, job search assistance and employment mediation.
One programme, worth 225,000 euros, aims to create an enabling environment for young entrepreneurs, strengthening the human resource capacities of new and existing social enterprises and so reducing youth unemployment.
But few young entrepreneurs or successful businesses have emerged. Despite the EU’s financial support, young people in North Macedonia are not starting businesses; they often prefer to go abroad.
Corruption driving the young from North Macedonia
Research shows that due to the high level of corruption, nepotism, inequality, and lack of perspective, the unemployment rate among young people in the country remained high last year. As a result, young people continue to emigrate to Western countries for a better life.
According to a study on young people in North Macedonia by the Institute for Sociological and Political Law Research, two-thirds of young people believe it is difficult to find a job after finishing their education. Four in ten think good relations with the government are necessary to succeed.
David Geer, European Union ambassador to North Macedonia, told BIRN that corruption was a huge issue of concern in the country. He advised young people to challenge the authorities and show there is a better, more ethical way, of doing things.
“We want to see young people investing in business, and we want to see young people leading new initiatives. I will encourage them to continue to do so but also to be very clear about the terms under which they will do it and reject attempts to put pressure on them,“ Geer said.
Many young people head to Croatia and Slovenia
North Macedonia was among the four countries that submitted the most residence and work permit requests in Croatia last year. According to the authorities in Croatia, by the end of May last year, Croatia had issued 74,548 permits in total, 6,595 of them to North Macedonian citizens.
Most of the permit requests, 27,808, were for work in construction, while 24,936 were for tourism and management.
But Croatia is not the only destination for ambitious young Macedonians. Others plan their future in Slovenia.
Angela Sekuloska, 24, was only 18 when she bought a one-way ticket to the country six years ago. She left her hometown of Bitola, in southwestern North Macedonia, to study at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana.
She told BIRN that she would not return home because Slovenia has better opportunities and a better quality of life.
Companies in Slovenia that employ students through student portals are flexible. No formal contract is signed between the parties. Students are paid based for hours worked, and can quit at any time.
“Every student can find a job that suits their time and interest. It allows them to earn and support themselves financially or build a career while studying,” Sekuloska said.
She never studied at a Macedonian university, but says one problem is that none of these institutions is placed on widely recognised international rankings, such as the Shanghai Ranking.
Another issue in North Macedonia, she said, is the lack of English-language programmes to attract ambitious local students.
“Perhaps the biggest problem that drives students to study and work abroad is the practice of putting nepotism above [attracting] quality staff,” Sekulovska told BIRN.
Sekulovska says she often meets other young people from North Macedonia who work and study in Slovenia.
Most move to Slovenia, she says, because of the quality of the study programmes, the living standards, the personal and career development possibilities, and their disappointment with the policies and life at home.
“Most young people I know do not plan to return home,” Sekulovska told BIRN. She will soon start her PhD studies and work as an assistant at the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana.
‘It’s easier to develop a business here than in Macedonia’
Dejan Karapeev, a chef from Macedonian, lives in Split, the largest city in Dalmatia, Croatia with his family. He has been a cook since he was 16. He studied to be a chef in high school and started working in addition to his compulsory apprenticeship.
“My love for the profession comes from a love for food, probably. I was in the kitchen with my mother from a young age. Hospitality is different in every country, and each has something to boast about. The difference between Macedonia and Croatia is the beaches attracting many tourists. Gastronomy is also easier to develop here than in Macedonia,” Karapeev told BIRN.
In his experience, many Macedonians in Croatia are seasonal workers and nine out of ten work in jobs related to tourism.
“There are more young workers, but also older ones who came for better wages. Seasonal work here is filled with foreigners,“ he said.
‘The problem is if they never return’
While the European Union is investing financial resources to improve the prospects of young people in North Macedonia, the country’s 2024 budget reduced funding for young people.
“The budget is not only realistic but also rational, designed to respond to the challenges of the energy crisis, to ensure regular payment of salaries, pensions and social benefits,” said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski.
Martin Noveski, President of the Association of Economists, Statisticians and Econometricians, SIGMA STA, said the departure of so many young people from North Macedonia is a big problem, though their remittances have positive effects on the domestic economy.
He said that for a small open economy with a de facto fixed exchange rate, such as North Macedonia, remittances from abroad play a significant role in maintaining the stability of the local currency, the denar.
“On the other hand, it [emigration] also causes labour shortages in certain sectors, and increases wages. This leads to higher production costs and lower competitiveness,” Noveski told BIRN.
He says the biggest problem is people who leave and never come back.
“Seasonal workers are easier to keep, but the problem is if they decide never to return,” he warned.
Dejan Karapeev and his family are among those who only go home for holidays. When the season ends, they return briefly to visit their loved ones.
“Our life here [in Croatia] is already organised. My wife is busy, and our daughter is in a nursery in Split this winter. I will be responsible for the new restaurant, which will be open all year round. This year, we will only be able to go to Macedonia during the holidays,” Karapeev concluded.
