TIRANA, Sept. 22 – If you want your children to work right after high school, they’d better study vocational education training rather than general education, a study on youth unemployment suggests to Albanian parents and students.
“Vocational Training should not be seen as an alternative to high school but to university, including the later master in non-academic skills, which in Germany is equivalent to bachelor. The majority of potential foreign investments in Albania shall require a VET related workforce,” says a study by the Albanian Cooperation and Development Institute supported by Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
The study shows parents are often uninformed and unprepared about the labor market needs
with prejudices and wrong hopes leading children to less efficient career paths. “In general many parents (as well as many youngsters too) today are not aware of the new dynamics and needs of the labor market and how they affect their kids. From interviews with professionals of youth employment market, we have been told that many parents and youngsters, as a matter of habit, put little attention to whether their education/academic choices would translate into a job, let alone what kind of job, the time required to find and hold it, the starting salary, etc.”
Frank Hantke, the FES director in Albania, says labor market oriented skills are essential for building up and efficient economy and attracting foreign investment.
“If the country wants to develop the economy and keep increasing its welfare, much more must be done for the young generation always brought up as ‘Albania’s comparative advantage’ and
‘the future of the country,’” says Hantke.
“The number of enrolled students and university graduates is still rising, but without any connection to the real needs of tomorrow’s labor market. The bad planning risks making those youngsters unable to find and/or to hold a meaningful job, and to complete successfully the transition from school to work. Much money and even more hopes are wasted because of wrong expectations and missing information,” he adds.
VET based training is more required in the labor market today, so it is more successful than general education at getting individuals into work in the short and medium terms. VET is twice more efficient than general education in moving youth to their first work experience, says the survey with 800 companies including the country’s 40 biggest employers.
Unfortunately, holding a stable position in the labour market, and even remaining in employment, is not an easy task for young people, given the difficult macroeconomic situation. It must be noted that industrial structure and the economic crisis has resulted in a greater skills mismatch in the labour market, as there has been an increase in the proportion of university graduates taking up jobs that require only upper secondary education. This phenomenon
is best illustrated in Albania by the high numbers of university educated youth working in call centers, and the exponential rise of this sector.
Youth unemployment in the second quarter of 2015 rose to a new historic high of 34.2 percent, up from 34.1 percent in the first quarter of the year and 33.5 percent in the second quarter of 2014, according to INSTAT.
With university degrees not matching market needs, the Albanian government has been promoting vocational education training whose students stand better chances to find a job.
State statistical institute, INSTAT, reports the number of students who enrolled in vocational training education in 2013-2014 rose to 18 percent. However, only 9.5 percent of students graduated in VET in 2014.
