Skopje, 28.05.2025
The Minister of Economy and Labor, Besar Durmishi, together with the Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and the Director of the Employment Agency, Seljatin Beljuli, presented the Operational Plan for Active Programs and Measures for Employment and Labor Market Services for 2025 at a press conference in the Government today.
Attached is the speech of Minister Durmishi from the press conference.
Revered,
At its last session, the Government, at the proposal of the Ministry of Economy and Labor, adopted the Operational Plan for Active Programs and Measures for Employment and Services on the Labor Market for 2025, which has as its main goal the greater and better quality inclusion of the unemployed in the labor market in Macedonia. I am pleased to say that this year over MKD2.5 billion, or EUR40 million have been allocated for employment measures, which is EUR7.5 million more compared to the previous year and is a record amount of support, and the Operational Plan will cover a total of 16.507 people.
This is a sign that the Government and the Ministry of Economy and Labor are committed to improving the labor market in the country as well as addressing the various labor needs of businesses. The Operational Plan for Employment contains several measures that lead to direct employment or through training in real working conditions for unemployed people to acquire knowledge and skills in demand on the labor market.
In all employment measures, a basic prerequisite for inclusion in any of the measures is that unemployed persons are registered as active job seekers in employment centers. The Operational Plan for 2025 places special emphasis on young unemployed persons up to 29 years of age, the long-term unemployed, as well as beneficiaries of guaranteed minimum assistance.
I would like to inform you that in accordance with the Government's commitment to focus on youth in the Operational Plan for Employment, this year, for the first time, we have new targeted measures to support youth.
Within the framework of the measure Support for Self-Employment, this year it has been expanded with two new sub-measures.
Measure - Support for self-employment, which refers to unemployed people with a minimum of primary education to start their own business, the amount of financial support is EUR7.000 in non-refundable funds for starting a business, which is 1.000 more compared to the previous year.
A novelty from this year is the sub-measure Support for self-employment of young unemployed persons up to 29 years of age, with the amount of financial support amounting to EUR10.000 in non-refundable funds for establishing a business. This amount is a record so far and is specifically targeted at young people up to 29 years of age in order to motivate them to realize their entrepreneurial talent in the country.
Also new is the sub-measure Support for self-employment by bringing together beneficiaries of up to two people to establish a business, whereby the amount of financial support ranges from EUR14.000 to 20.000, with EUR20.000 for partners up to 29 years of age.
We are continuing with the measure Employment and Growth of Legal Entities, which has the main goal of creating new jobs, and this year 1.540 people will be covered.
Again, when employing people up to 29 years of age, the highest amount of support is foreseen, up to MKD250.000 per person, which once again demonstrates the Government's commitment to supporting young unemployed people to remain in the country. This year, novelty in the Operational Plan is measures for better and faster access for unemployed people with a low level of education and for faster inclusion in the labor market.
These include - Basic Skills Training - Foreign Languages, Basic Skills Training - Computers, Entrepreneurship Training, Business Planning and Business Skills Development which is pilot measure, Advanced Business Training - Licensed Training with a Recognized International Certificate, Advanced IT Skills Training.
As a new measure this year, we have the measure Public Works for Protection and Prevention of Fires and Enrichment of the Environment at the Local Level, that is, Afforestation. The measure envisages the social inclusion of 400 people with difficulty in employment who will receive MKD24.000.
We are continuing to implement the measure for the payment of the Youth Allowance, which envisages encouraging the employment of 3.500 young people up to 23 years of age after completing secondary education with the aim of employment in the production sector.