Kosovo’s population has a longstanding migration experience: An estimated one out of four
Kosovars currently lives abroad. Migration expands the options for Kosovo’s workforce and
contributes to (human) development. On the other hand, Western European countries are
currently experiencing shortages of professionals in their labour markets. Due to demographic
changes, this trend will grow stronger in the future. Already, severe shortages are observed in
certain professions, sectors and/or regions, particularly in healthcare-related professions.
Against this background, the need for skilled labour in Western Europe (and other countries)
and the need for human capital development of Kosovars become obvious because of the direct
contribution to human, social and economic development in Kosovo.
If managed in a proper way, circular migration can contribute to this development. However, so
far no holistic and/or targeted approaches towards the management of circular labour migration
have been considered in Kosovo and existing programmes have had a rather ad-hoc character
of isolated activities.