Makedonien|Mazedonien News

The construction work of the Miladinovci - Sveti Nikole - Stip road has started, Utrinski Vesnik daily reads. Domestic companies, supervised by the Chinese company "Sinohydro", are currently excavating the site. The project is considered one of the most important segments for the economic development of the eastern part of the country. "We have launched the construction work on May 2, and given the dynamics, the highway should be finished by May 2, 2017", Dai Gia Dong, Sinohydro's technical documentation manager, stated.

Gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year grew by 3.9 percent, according to the State Statistical Office. Growth was recorded in several sectors. It rose by 13.7 percent in construction, by 4.7 percent in financial intermediation, activities related to real estate, renting and business activities, other community, social and personal service activities and by 3.3 percent in wholesale and retail trade, motor vehicles repair, motorcycles and personal and household goods. Final consumption of households including non-profit institutions serving households, in the first quarter of 2014 is growing by 2.3 percent in nominal terms, and its share in the structure of gross domestic product amounted to 81.4 percent. In this period, exports of goods and services increased nominally by 14.3 percent, and imports of goods and services increased in nominal terms by 9.8 percent.

The unemployment rate in Macedonia further drops. Since the beginning of last year until today, the number of unemployed persons continues to decrease, daily Utrinski Vesnik reads. According to the latest data published by the State Statistical Office, the unemployment rate in the first quarter of this year was 28.4%, which is 0.6% less than in 2013, and compared to 2012, the rate lowered by 2.6%. If compared with the first three months of 2013, the unemployment rate dropped by 1.5%. The statistics last year registered lowered unemployment rate in each quarter. Thus, the rate in the first three months was 29.9%, in the second – 28.8%, in the third - 28.7%, and in the last three months - 28.6%. Out of the total active population of 958,392, the number of unemployed is 272,115. However, data on age and education structure are worrisome. Out of the total number of jobless people, most are aged 25 to 49, i.e. 166,531 persons or 26.5%. Regarding the education degree, most of the ...

 In Macedonia, there are 10,000 more passive than active job seekers, daily Utrinski Vesnik reads. "At the moment, there are 101,400 persons registered in the Employment Service Agency who are actively looking for an employment, and 114,000 people who are passively seeking a job. However, there is a positive trend of switching from passive to active category because people see the advantages of active policies and employment possibilities," announced today the Employment Agency Director, Vlatko Popovski, at the press conference held after the opening of the Agency’s branch in the municipality of Gazi Baba. The fifteenth dispersed office of the Macedonian Employment Service Agency is housed in the same building of the Gazi Baba municipality administration. Citizens can obtain services each working day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. They can obtain information on the active employment measures, report their working status, receive information on free job positions, etc...

The number of unemployed in the first quarter of the year was 272,115 persons. The unemployment rate is 28.4 percents and is for 1.5 percents lower than the first quarter of 2013, according to the State Statistical Office. 58.8 percents of the unemployed were men and 41.2 percents women. According to  the age from 15 to 24 years 52.8 percents were unemployed, from 25 to 49 years 25.2 percents were unemployed, from 50 to 54 years 23 percents and over 65 years, 27.8 percents were unemployed. Out of the unemployed, with no education are 3.719 people, with incomplete primary education 9394 people, 61,497 people with primary education with three years, with high school 24 276 people, with four years of secondary school 131 712 people, with post-secondary education by 3093 people and 38,425 people with high education. In this quarter, 686,277 people were employed.

Construction firms last year completed construction work worth MKD 25,698,606,000, of which MKD 7,871,372,000 buildings in private ownership, announced today the State Statistical Office. Most of the buildings were built in the Skopje region, followed by Pelagoniski and Vardar region. During 2013 a total of 2176 buildings were built and 2,339 apartments with a total area of ​​157,338 square meters were completed, of which 2170 in private ownership. The average useful floor area of ​​completed apartments is 67.3 square meters.

Macedonia's economic freedom score is 68.6, making its economy the 43rd freest in the 2014 Index. Its overall score has increased by 0.4 point from last year, reflecting improvements in trade freedom, business freedom, and the control of public spending. Macedonia is ranked 20th out of 43 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is above the world and regional averages. Macedonia has scored great results since the first assessment under the Economic Freedom Index in 2002, representative of the Heritage Foundation Luke Coffey said Wednesday in Skopje after meeting the country's Vice-Premier and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski. Improvements have been registered in labor and investment freedom, Coffey said, pointing out that Macedonia should be proud of everything it has achieved for a short period of time. Macedonia is pleased to be a leader of economic freedoms in SEE, which is yet another recognition for the quality of the country’s economic policies, Stavr...