Skopje, 5 May 2026 (MIA) - More than 15,000 new jobs have been created in the past year, bringing the number of employees in the country to around 710,000, and the number of registered unemployed is below 90,000, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Tuesday. 

Mickoski, who attended Tuesday’s cornerstone laying ceremony for new classrooms in Goce Delchev elementary in Aerodrom, told reporters that the real number of unemployed is around 35,000 to 40,000 people, if about 30,000 farmers are excluded from the total number of registered unemployed, as well as people who are formally registered as working-age population from 15 to 65 years of age, including high school students for whom education is mandatory. 

“This is below five percent of the working-age population and represents the lowest level in history since independent Macedonia,” the PM pointed out. 

According to him, as a result of increased investment activity and support from the Government, the economy has been recording real growth of 3.5 percent for six quarters in a row.

“If we look at the nominal GDP for 2026, and not according to the Government, but according to the International Monetary Fund, it will amount to around USD 22 billion,” said Mickoski. 

He added that the growth of the nominal GDP, compared to the period of the previous government, is three times higher, in conditions when the economy within the Eurozone is growing by less than 1 percent. 

The PM pointed out that the economic results are due not only to the support of the economy through subsidized loans with an interest rate below 2 percent, but also to the implementation of capital projects.

“We currently have more than 1,200 active projects, i.e. construction sites, which have been implemented in the past two years alone, directly intended for communities through local self-government,” Mickoski said. 

He noted that investments are being implemented in all municipalities under equal criteria, regardless of the political affiliation of the mayors, with the total value of the projects reaching approximately half a billion euros.

Photo: MIA