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Balkans: 231,000 new jobs created in six countries

According to World Bank and wiiw, report based on 2016-17 data

19 March, 18:56
(ANSA) - BELGRADE - In the six countries of the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia) a 3.9 percent increase in employment led to the creation of 231,000 new jobs between the second quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017, according to a report of World Bank and the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), launched today.

According to the 'Western Balkans Labor Market Trends 2018' report, the biggest increase in employment was recorded in Kosovo (+9.2 percent), followed by Serbia (4.3%), Montenegro (3.5%), Albania (3.4%), Macedonia (2.7%), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1.9%) In the same period, unemployment fell from 18.6 to 16.2 percent in the area.

The World Bank said, however, that despite the progress, the six countries continue to register low activity rates, in particular among youth and women, high rates of long-term unemployment and a prevalence of informal work. The Bank noted that those are all factors that represent "challenges for sustained economic growth in the region." (ANSA).

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