Kosovo’s biggest challenge: encouraging Kosovan migrants to move back to their home country

Emigration from Kosovo into western European countries has been a large-scale phenomenon in recent years. The money sent back to Kosovo by migrants working abroad is currently an important element of the country’s economy, but a recent study has found that the return of migrants to Kosovo could prove even more beneficial. Ardiana Gashi and Nick Adnett suggest that government policies should encourage the retention of strong ties between the migrants and Kosovo, allow for the speedy accreditation of qualifications obtained abroad, and facilitate the flow of migrants’ savings into the Kosovan economy

The Determinants of Return Migration: Evidence for Kosovo

Return migration represents a potentially important contributor to economic development for countries that are large exporters of labor. This paper provides an analysis of the determinants of return migration to Kosovo, a country with an especially high level of recent emigration. The findings of this investigation suggest that there is a non-linear relationship between the age of the migrant and their probability of returning. In addition, the more educated migrants and those that have acquired additional education whilst abroad are more likely to return, whereas recent migrants, those that possess permanent resident status and have their family abroad are less likely to return. As expected, the stronger the family ties of a migrant with their home country, the more likely they are to return. Finally, migrants that are expected to invest in businesses in Kosovo are more inclined to return. Together these findings suggest that return migration may be an important contributor to economic development in Kosovo and policies are outlined that could strengthen this contribution

The Determinants of Return Migration: Evidence for Kosovo

Return migration represents a potentially important contributor to economic development for countries who are large exporters of labour. This paper provides an analysis of the determinants of return migration to Kosovo, a country with an especially high level of recent emigration. The findings of this investigation suggest that there is a non-linear relationship between the age of the migrant and their probability of returning. In addition, the more educated migrants and those that have acquired additional education whilst abroad are more likely to return, whereas recent migrants, those that possess permanent resident status and have their family abroad are less likely to return. As expected, the stronger the family ties of a migrant with their home country, the more likely they are to return. Finally, migrants that are expected to invest in businesses in Kosovo are more inclined to return. Together these findings suggest that return migration may be an important contributor to economic development in Kosovo and policies are outlined that could strengthen this contribution

Bucking the Trend: Female Labor Market Participation in Kosovo

This paper adds to the limited research conducted on labor markets with low female labor force participation, providing the first multivariate analysis for Kosovo. The determinants of female labor force participation (FLFP) in Kosovo are investigated utilizing an eclectic model, comprising of individual, household, and socio-economic determinants, to analyze data from the Kosovo Labor Force Survey. Both supply and demand factors contribute to the explanation of the low FLFP in Kosovo. The results confirm that: age, marital status, education, labor market demand and the composition of the household are significant determinants of FLFP. These findings indicate the importance of taking a household level approach when analyzing labor force participation in countries with low female force participation

Tularemia Outbreak Investigation in Kosovo: Case Control and Environmental Studies

A large outbreak of tularemia occurred in Kosovo in the early postwar period, 1999-2000. Epidemiologic and environmental investigations were conducted to identify sources of infection, modes of transmission, and household risk factors. Case and control status was verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot, and microagglutination assay. A total of 327 serologically confirmed cases of tularemia pharyngitis and cervical lymphadenitis were identified in 21 of 29 Kosovo municipalities. Matched analysis of 46 case households and 76 control households suggested that infection was transmitted through contaminated food or water and that the source of infection was rodents. Environmental circumstances in war-torn Kosovo led to epizootic rodent tularemia and its spread to resettled rural populations living under circumstances of substandard housing, hygiene, and sanitation

Technological change and employer-provided training : theory and evidence from the UK and Germany

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Kunst som uttrykksform i arbeid med enslige mindreårige flyktninger

Barn og unge utsatt for alvorlige overgrep og traumer, mangler ofte ord for de vonde erfaringene (Sjølie 2006). Når de i tillegg er i et nytt land med en helt annen kultur og et annet språk, kan det utfordre mulighetene for å lege sår etterlatt av traumatiske opplevelser. Anne Jansen (2013) hevder at barn og unge som har hatt en vanskelig oppvekst ofte er flinkere i historiefortelling enn de som har vokst om i trygge omgivelser, fordi disse har et større behov for å finne mening i det som har gått galt. Men hvordan skal de enslige mindreårige fortelle historier på et språk de ikke kan? Og hvordan skal de fortelle noe som generelt er vanskelig å sette ord på? I denne oppgaven ønsker jeg å belyse kunst og kreative metoder, slik som kunst- og uttrykksterapi som mulige redskap i terapeutisk behandling av enslige mindreårige flyktninger

Are Women Really Paid More than Men in Kosovo? Unpicking the Evidence

A recent survey found that the unadjusted average hourly net wage rate of female employees in Kosovo exceeded that of male employees. This reverse gender wage gap makes Kosovo a curiosity, though results from other countries suggest that there is an inverse relationship between the size of the gender pay gap in a country and its female labour force participation rate. In the analysis below we estimate earning functions for female and male employees in Kosovo. Using decomposition analyses we then examine the size of the explained and unexplained gender wage gaps. A novel feature of the investigation is that we incorporate into the analysis gender differences in the allocation of time. We find that the superior productivity-related characteristics of female employees in Kosovo hides the magnitude of the difficulties they still face in the labour market. Hence, we conclude that once we focus on workers with similar observed productivity-related characteristics, women in Kosovo are paid significantly less than men

Technological change and employer-provided training

Abstract There is a wide range of theoretical and empirical analyses suggesting that technological change has increased the demand for skills. Since training is a mechanism to upgrade workers' skills, it would be expected that technical progress strengthens the importance of training on account of the requirement for skills to complement new technology. However, the relationship between technical progress and firms' (employer-funded) continuous training has been little investigated. In our research we address the theoretical gap by building upon existing models from the skillbiased technological change and training literatures. This theoretical platform supports a maintained hypothesis of a positive relationship between training and technological change, which we investigate empirically for Germany using data from the IAB establishment panel. Our empirical findings indicate that in Germany a greater share of workers undergo further/continuing training in establishments subject to technological change. An important issue we raise in our empirical analysis is the possibility of endogeneity/simultaneity between training and technological change

Technological change and employer-provided training: evidence from UK workplaces

Purpose – This paper sets out to examine the link between technological change and continuing training at a workplace level. Design/methodology/approach – The paper hypothesises that workplaces subject to technological change have an increased demand for skills, which induces an increased provision of training. UK data from two waves (1998 and 2004) of the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) are used to investigate this hypothesis. Findings – Workplaces undertaking technological change are more likely to train their workers and also to provide more days of training per worker. Team working is also associated with a greater number of days spent on training, as are the setting of training targets and the keeping of training records. Training intensity decreases with an increasing share of part-time and manual employees. Conversely, where workplaces face difficulties in filling skilled vacancies, they provide more days of training. Research limitations/implications – The WERS training questions refer only to core experienced employees which, since this group may vary from one workplace to another, may not give a completely consistent measure of either absolute or relative training provision. Because the WERS panel (1998 and 2004) excludes both the dependent variable (training intensity) and the variable of interest (technical change), the analysis is restricted to cross-section estimation. Causal implications of this analysis should be regarded as correspondingly tentative. Practical implications – The findings suggest that one way to induce firms to provide more training is by enhanced incentives for firms to undertake more rapid technological change. In addition, if the current global economic downturn persists, evidence that operating in a declining market is associated with the provision of fewer training days may be of particular concern to training professionals and policy makers. Originality/value – The paper provides empirical evidence concerning the interaction between technological change and training.Change management, Skills, Training, United Kingdom, Workplace