Identifying the causes of long-term unemployment among older women in Serbia and North Macedonia

The project entitled Identifying the causes of long-term unemployment among older women in Serbia and North Macedonia was approved by the Visegrad Fund under the Visegrad + Grants Programming Scheme, based on the evaluations of the applications submitted during the second call in 2024. The project is co-financed by the governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe. The project will be implemented for 18 months in Serbia and North Macedonia. The project will be implemented by a consortium consisting of the Institute of Economic Sciences, Serbia, the leading partner, and Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Institute of Economics-Skopje, North Macedonia, Institute of Economic Research of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia, and University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Faculty of Management, Poland.

Project description:

Women over 50 are recognized as a hard-to-place category in the employment policy framework of Serbia and North Macedonia, which enables them to participate in active labour market measures. Due to precarious employment and longer periods of previous unemployment, they have little chance of re-employment, which discourages them and increases their vulnerability. The aim of this project is to find out what prevents women over 50 from finding a job on the local labour market in the Belgrade and Skopje regions. Based on the experiences in Slovakia and Poland, a set of tools will be developed to assess their employability to better respond to existing employment opportunities.

Project implementation period: 01.10.2024-31.03.2026.

Project budget: €48,000.00

Project partners:

The leading partner, the Institute of Economic Sciences (IES), has proven experience in implementing similar projects. IES has conducted projects on the impact of employment support measures for vulnerable groups and provided expertise to the Ministry responsible for employment in the elaboration of the Employment Strategy. The IES is a renowned research institution with many national and regional contacts, including universities and scientific research organizations. Since its foundation in 1958, IES has been active in the fields of macroeconomics, international economics, environmental economics, welfare economics, innovation economics, economic history, digital transformation, and other related sub-disciplines. IES has developed cooperation with international organizations implementing projects funded by the GIZ, European Commission (ESF, JRC, HORIZON, INTERREG, COST actions), Bloomberg Foundation, UNDP, Visegrad Fund, and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The Institute of Economics-Skopje (IE-Skopje) is selected as a project partner because it has a significant role in the development of scientific and professional thought in the economic segment, through its contribution in the preparation of strategies, policies, and plans for the development of specific sectors in the economy of the Republic of North Macedonia. Hundreds of domestic and international research projects in different scientific fields, including the labour market, have been conducted. This indicates that throughout its long history of more than seven decades the Institute has created a solid foundation of scientific research. The Institute of Economics-Skopje has previous cooperation with the leading partner of this project in the realization of other projects, organizing scientific conferences, publishing journals together, and other joint activities.

Institute of Economic Research of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (IER SAS) collaborates with labour market policy institutions locally (Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Public Employment Services) as well as internationally (European Commission, OECD, CEDEFOP, European Training Fund) and with the business sector by providing analysis and consulting services related to the labour market. The combination of in-house research capacity and international network activities enables the Institute’s researchers to provide evidence-based policy research. IER SAS has been involved in multiple international projects in the field of labour market policies, such as impact evaluation studies, models for forecasting skills and occupations, and designing upskilling/reskilling policies.

The University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow (UITM) has an extensive infrastructure located in two campuses, including research facilities, computer laboratories, internet networks, conference, teleconference, and webinar infrastructure. The UITM strategy focuses on bringing together research, business, and education. In the years 1996–2023, the University has implemented over 150 projects with EU funding, both national and international, with a total grant amount exceeding 200 million PLN. These projects were financed by various programs and funds: ESF, ERDF, Lifelong Learning, Erasmus Plus, 7th Framework Program, Central Europe, Norwegian Funds. One of the main research areas of the Faculty of Management is labour and skills demand, vacancy market, and labour market matching using survey data, administrative data, and big data collected from the Internet, with the longest history of job offer research in Poland.