Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Fatmir Bytyqi, said today that the import of labor force from abroad "is not a long-term solution", although less than two weeks ago he said that it was the only solution to the crisis of shortage of workers, because otherwise many Macedonian companies will close.

Bitici said that the state is making efforts to improve the situation with the shortage of workers.

"With retraining and through the process of dual education, the situation with the labor market and the labor shortage will improve. The long-term solution is retraining, retraining of our people who live here and who need to acquire new skills that companies need. "All other solutions, such as importing labor, are solutions that are not sustainable," said Bitici.

In the past weeks, Bitici accepted the arguments of the companies, which have major problems due to lack of labor force. He said the importation of workers was inevitable due to deficits in the construction, hospitality and textile sectors. Chambers of Commerce, on the other hand, repeatedly warned that it is possible to import workers, and even mentioned specific countries, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Now, Bitici says that "there are unemployed people in the country and the primary goal is to train them, so that they can get a job more easily".

- Every other solution is to be able to satisfy a certain need in a short period of time - he said.

Bitiqi, however, leaves the possibility of importing labor until the domestic workforce is qualified. As the Deputy Prime Minister said, the country currently lacks about 10.000 workers.

Bitici: Many companies will close if we don't import labor