Eastern Europe Edition

Tech Boom Boosts Youth Job Market in Balkan Trouble Spot

Kosovo, Europe’s youngest country, is now the continent’s trailblazer for tackling unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds.

Commercial and residential building have sprouted across Kosovo’s vibrant capital, Pristina.Photographer: Atdhe Mulla/Bloomberg

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By Andrea Dudik

May 1, 2026 at 4:30 AM UTC

Hi, this is Andrea in Prague. Welcome to our weekly newsletter on what’s shaping economics and investments from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans. You can subscribe here.

Youth unemployment has been a big issue for a lot of countries across Europe, but few places felt it as much as Kosovo. A little over a decade ago the jobless rate for 15- to 24-year-olds was a staggering 61%, a legacy of the Balkan country’s stubborn postwar economic problems.