Enhancing Youth Employability as a Result of Creating Linkages between Vocational Education Sector and Private Agricultural Sector in Kosovo

The agribusiness and Agriculture sector is the main field of economy in Kosovo and it is sector that contributes to social viability, employment and economic development. While in Kosovo on the basis of statistics from the results of the Kosovo labor force survey 2014, shows that Kosovo stands in the worst labor market situation in comparison to the Western Balkan countries and the 27 European Union member countries. The unemployment rate in Kosovo is 30%, from these percentage 55.9% of the unemployed were young people (aged 15-24 years) and the share of female population is higher 68.4%. The labor force participation rate in Kosovo is 40.5 % while the participation rate in Western Balkan countries ranges between 60 to 68% and it is 71.8% in European Union countries. Part of these differences is due to the fact that Kosovo has such a young population and many of these young people are still in education (and therefore classified as inactive). A concern is that over time the potential for the inactive population to grow remains high as each year approximately 36,000 young people will enter the working age population (i.e., 14 year olds will become 15 year olds) while only approximately 10,000 will leave the working age population (i.e., 64 year olds becoming 65 year olds).Very strikingly, the labor force participation rate of women is significantly lower in Kosovo than its neighbors1. This study intends to serve as a key tool for identifying the gaps between vocational education sector and private agricultural sector in Kosovo, which impact directly to the unemployment rate. The research addressed identified gaps of the VET schools and Private sector, their needs, areas of focus, specific needed activities in order to create the favorable conditions to link these two important sectors and enhance youth employability.