Employment Policy in the Western Balkan Countries and their Perspectives in the Process of European Integration

This chapter focuses on the analysis of employment policies in the Western Balkan countries and examines levels of harmonization of national employment policies throughout these countries with the European Union employment policy framework. The observed Western Balkan countries achieved different statuses in the process of approaching the European Union. Today they include acceding, candidate and potential candidate countries. Depending on their current statuses, levels of convergence of employment policies vary. Only Croatia, that will join the European Union through the seventh enlargement, was obliged to propose to the European Commission the pre-accession Joint Assessment Paper on employment policy priorities. Next three candidate countries – Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Serbia – will be obligated to propose similar documents, in order to prepare their institutional capacities for the implementation of integrated employment policy guidelines and to show certain levels of commitment to the reforms inspired by achievement of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth until 2020. In this chapter the convergence is observed through possible translation of the European Union employment policy guidelines, set out by the Europe 2020 Strategy, to the labour market of an individual country. In terms of available employment policy outcomes, all observed Western Balkan countries are still far from achieving the European Union headline targets. The common priorities of the Western Balkan countries are to increase overall level of employability, through better education and skills, and to conduct prominent reforms in order to improve their economies.