The ultimate goal of the commitment is supporting the development of evidence-based national policies and strategies to improve young people’s access to decent jobs. Research on young people’s position in the labour market in North Macedonia will be conducted. This includes an examination of the micro and macro determinants that lead to youth unemployment and underemployment. Research findings will provide evidence-based policy recommendations. Through direct contact with the national policymakers and dissemination activities, the issue of youth unemployment will be put on their agenda and will raise public awareness on the importance of mitigating negative consequences of youth employment challenges.

The Macedonian labour market improved significantly in recent years, but the unemployment rate of youth aged 15-24 remained at a very high level at 35 per cent. The objective of this commitment is twofold: (i) to bring the issues of unemployment of youth in the policymakers' agenda in an explicit and clearly-formulated manner; (ii) to propose specific policy actions. In particular, the research is expected to produce evidence on the characteristics of unemployed and underemployed, on micro and macro determinants of these phenomena as well on labour market position effect for youth welfare. To provide data-driven information, data from several surveys, such as STWS, LFS and/or SILC will be used, while using econometric models will estimate the relationship between labour market position and wellbeing. As such, findings will represent a strong advocacy tool for achieving both policy objectives stated above. The action envisaged production of many visibility materials that are expected to bring knowledge and raise public awareness. Also, we will produce several policy documents that will be directly disseminated to the key national policymakers like the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Employment State Agency, etc. The findings will feed into policies in terms of designing policy measures, active programs and national strategies that will mitigate the negative consequences of unemployment and underemployment, and will create a more supportive space for decent jobs for youth.

FInance Think - Economic Research & Policy Institute