WHY KOSOVO NEEDS MIGRATION. From research to policy
WHY KOSOVO NEEDS MIGRATION. From research to policy

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Micro-Economics, Economic policy, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: ESI – European Stability Initiative
Keywords: Kosovo economic development; Cerrce; Lubishte;
Summary/Abstract: In 2005 ESI undertook research on rural poverty, migration and remittances in Kosovo. Our conclusions were published in 2006 in a report called “Cutting the Lifeline” that showed how migration had been a necessity for many generations of young men in particular. The report also examined how after 1999, the European doors to legal work migration closed, and only the lucky few with close family in the diaspora could migrate through family reunification schemes. In the report, we described in detail the economic realities of two villages that are representative of the wider social and economic situation in Kosovo: Cerrce, located in north-west Kosovo on the border with Albania, and Lubishte, situated in the mountainous southeast. Our findings clearly showed that economic development, without significant numbers of people leaving such villages to find work, skills and capital elsewhere, is simply inconceivable. || In the decade after our research was concluded little has changed anywhere in Kosovo. In 2005 a Labour Force Survey showed an employment rate of only 29 percent among 15 to 64 year olds (and only 12 percent among women). The 2013 Labour Force Survey was no less dramatic, with an employment rate of 28.4 percent (12.9 percent among women). Close to ninety percent of adult women are not working and have no prospect of ever finding a job.

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