The Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS) has published the results of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in the third quarter of 2018 (Q3 2018).

The survey has been extended to 598 enumeration areas throughout the country where 3 437 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 other similar issues related to the labour 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 age 15-64 years old.

Within the working age population, the rate of participation in the workforce is 42.0%.

Employment rate in the Labour Force Survey in the third quarter (Q3) 2018 was 29.1%.

The highest employment was in males (45.6%), while employment in females was 12.6%. Females are mainly employed in education, trade and healthcare sectors by 54.5% of them, while males are mainly employed in trade, construction and manufacturing sectors by 44.1%.

Economic sectors that continue to employ continue to be: trade with 16.8%, construction with 12.3%, education with 11.5%, and manufacturing by 10.5%. Meanwhile, other sectors participate with the lowest percentage in employment.

Regarding contracted employees, it turns out that 28.4% of employed persons have permanent contracts in their main job, while 71.6% have a temporary contract.

According to the results of the LFS, in Q3 2018 the unemployment rate is 30.7%.

The most pronounced unemployment is among females with 34.8%, compared with males, 29.5%. The most pronounced unemployment rate is in the age group of 15-24 with 55.0%.

According to the results of the LFS, in Q3 2018, inactive workforce is high at 58.0%, with a particular focus on females at 80.7% compared to males at 35.3%.

For the implementation of LFS Q3 2018, the methodology and standards applied by KAS are harmonized with recommendations of Eurostat.