The Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS) has published the results of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) in the first quarter of 2019.

The survey has been extended to 452 enumeration areas throughout the country where 4004 households were selected according to the random method from the Population and Housing Census 2011. Households selected for the survey except that they had one survey they also had three re-surveys by reference period.

This publication contains detailed data on employment and unemployment by age, gender, employment status, economic activity, occupation and similar issues related to the labor market.

According to the results of this publication, two-thirds of the population in Kosovo is a working age population. The working age population includes the age 15-64 years old.

Within the working age population, the rate of participation in the workforce is 38.7%.

The employment rate in the Labor Force Survey in the first quarter 2019 is 28.2%.

Higher employment is to males at 43.0%, while female employment is 13.3%. Females are employed mainly in the sectors of education, trade and health care by 54.6% of them, while mails are mainly employed in the sectors of trade, construction and manufacturing by 43.8%.

Economic sectors which continue to employee continue to be: trade with 16.5%; construction with 11.5%, education with 11.2%, and manufacture with 11.0%. Meanwhile, other sectors participate with the lowest percentage in employment.

Regarding contracted employees, it turns out that 39.1% of employed persons have permanent contracts in their main job, while 60.9% have a temporary contract.

According to the results of the LFS, in Q1 2019, the unemployment rate is 26.9%.

The most pronounced unemployment is in females by 31.6%, compared with males, 25.4%. The most pronounced unemployment rate is in the age group 15-24 with 50.6%.

According to the results of the LFS, in Q1 2019, inactive workforce is quite high at 61.3%, with a particular focus on females by 80.5% compared to males by 42.4%.

For the implementation of LFS Q1 2019, the methodology and standards applied by KAS are harmonized with recommendations of Eurostat.