Currently, 14 thousand Montenegrin citizens under the age of 30 are at the Employment Office. Most of them have university diplomas, but more than half of them do not even have a day's work experience.
Professional training programs for university students worth several million euros have not produced the expected results so far, because only one in four university students managed to keep, that is, find a job. Employers say that there will be work for young people only when the economy recovers.
At first glance, the numbers can be overwhelming.
The unemployment rate of young people in Montenegro up to 25 years old is at an enviably low level. According to EUROSTAT data, this percentage in our country is half the average of the European Union. However, on second glance, the picture is different.
The Union of Free Trade Unions explains that the reason lies in the fact that almost 90% of high school students in Montenegro enroll in college, the unemployment rate of young people under 30 is dramatically higher and exceeds 50%.
"They are in that category when you are fired, they are the first to be hit, and when you are hired, they are the last," said Ivana Mihajlović from the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro.
Even if only those who are registered at the Employment Office are counted, the situation is not better. (GRAPHIC 2) Of the 35 in the office, as many as 000 are younger than 14 years old, and more than half (000%) do not have even an hour of work experience. This is exactly what bothers employers the most.
"Simply 99% are small and medium-sized companies that are not in a position to dedicate themselves to each new employee in terms of additional training," said Ana Maraš from the Union of Employers of Montenegro.
In order to bridge this gap, the state invested almost 20 million euros in the professional training program for two years, but the result is worrying. A quarter of university graduates got a job.
"About 7500 people went through this program, and about 2 of them found employment after completing professional training," said Sabina Kujović from the Employment Agency.
"With these professional training programs, it is very important to put quality before quantity, precisely for this reason, so that we do not have situations where, for example, companies with 2 employees receive 12 young people for professional training. Who will be their mentor", she added. is Mihajlovic.
There is no simple recipe to encourage youth employment.
"First of all, we need to create all the conditions for companies to operate smoothly, so that they would of course be able to create new jobs by creating and increasing profit turnover," says Maraš.
Thus, the Institute's new project "Youth are our potential" is aimed precisely at creating new jobs.
"50 university students under the age of 30 will go through training, a three-month training and prepare for entrepreneurship and self-employment," Kujović said.
In order to even start doing business on their own, say businessmen, young people lack the infrastructure to begin with.
"When we talk about entrepreneurial infrastructure, I'm primarily thinking of business incubators and technology parks," Maraš pointed out.
Bonus video:
