The time has already come to open discussion about the need for additional workforce on the labor market, Deputy PM for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi told Bloomberg Adria’s Zoom show, commenting on the need to import workforce as an inevitable solution to the labor shortage the country is facing.

Bytyqi said that while we are already working on additional qualification and requalification of a certain group of unemployed in Macedonia in order to adapt them to the needs of the market, we will have to find a way to supplement the outflow of workers.

There is a lack of workforce on the labor market and we must respond to that challenge if we want to have accelerated economic growth, he said.

When asked by Bloomberg Adria whether, in that 14 percent unemployment, we can’t find the qualified personnel that the companies are looking for, and take them from there instead of looking for the import of workforce, the deputy prime minister said that we are primarily looking for the workforce from those who are active job seekers, but everyone’s conclusion is that we still have a shortage of workforce, but also in some sectors specifically qualified workforce.