engleski

Labour Market and Skills in the Western Balkans

Skill mismatch appears to be a more permanent phenomenon in the Western Balkans than in more developed EU countries where mismatch mainly affects younger people and tends to decline with age due to occupational mobility, movement up the career ladder in larger firms and investment by employers in on-the-job training. In the Western Balkans, such mismatch tends to be more persistent for a number of reasons. Firstly, old skills quickly become redundant when new technologies are introduced through restructuring. Secondly, employers invest relatively little in on -the-job-training due to uncertainty induced by the poor investment climate. Thirdly, old skills have gradually become obsolete due to the persistence of long-term unemployment. Fourthly, re-skilling has been inhibited by the low provision of adult education and life-long learning opportunities. Such skill mismatch could in principal be overcome through on-the-job training or career mobility, but employers are often reluctant to spend on employee training, while career mobility is often severely limited by structural factors such as lack of retraining opportunities and the costs of moving house.

Labour Market, Skills Missmatch ; Growth ; Western Balkans

nije evidentirano