The Professional Training Programme in Montenegro: An Active Labour Market Policy or a Way to Fill the Structural Gap?

Abstract

The chapter presents an analysis of a programme aimed to increase youth employment in Montenegro implemented over the past nine years. The Programme for Professional Training of Persons with Higher Education (PPT). Even though the Programme is not among the measures of active labour market policies (ALMP), this chapter argues that it can, in fact, be considered as one. The chapter tries to show this by comparing the Programme with the most important elements of ALMPs. By not considering this Programme as an ALMP measure, the government has higher discretionary power in its implementation and can apply it over a longer period without providing actual proofs of its effectiveness. The government continues to support this Programme as a way of curbing unemployment and providing a short-term solution for the transition between university studies and employment. The chapter also analyses different aspects of the Programme with respect to unemployment and tries to clarify how the Programme affects some burning issues, such as regional migration. The chapter does not find evidence that the Programme contributes to solving these problems but shows that, on the contrary, it contributes further to their persistence. Finally, the chapter proposes concrete recommendations for policy changes and ways the Programme could be adjusted to render it more suitable to the Montenegrin context by directly tackling some of the underlying issues of the labour market, especially related to youth.