Prilep, 20 November 2023 (MIA) - There is way to prevent emigration of young people and their search for jobs abroad. EU membership is a priority but we must also think of importing workforce from abroad, said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski on Monday.

"All countries of the Western Balkans share the same problem - young people want to live and work in the EU, some in the United States and Australia. Let's not kid ourselves, the best path ahead is for the country to join the EU and this is a fact shared by all countries in the area," said PM Kovachevski.

According to him, the Government policies for investment support and job opening have led to an increase in the number of those employed by 7,000 in 2023 alone, whereas unemployment has dropped to 13.1 percent.

"Next year we expect employment to increase by nearly ten percent, we expect unemployment to drop by another two percent and to reach single digits very soon. Besides EU accession, we must also think about importing workforce from other countries. We have been saying for a while that no one should come and work here but have no issue of citizens working in other countries. This issue needs to be discussed and chambers consider that workforce import quotas should increase, leading to higher production in certain sectors that lack workforce," noted Kovachevski.

Photo: MIA archive and screenshot