North Macedonia is increasingly turning to foreign workers to fill jobs that employers say they cannot fill locally. But one question is becoming harder to ignore: if the country has nearly 90,000 registered unemployed people, why are companies looking abroad for workers?

The latest figures from the Employment Agency show the growing demand for foreign labour. Between January 1 and August 19, 2026, the agency issued 1,837 opinions in employment procedures involving Bangladeshi citizens. There were also more than 1,200 procedures involving Turkish workers, 787 involving workers from Nepal, 323 from India and 46 from Pakistan, Nezavisen Pecat reported on August 27.

These “opinions” are part of the process of bringing foreign workers into North Macedonia. The Employment Agency checks whether legal requirements are met, including the applicable quota and the situation on the domestic labour market, before sending its opinion to the Ministry of Interior.

The interior ministry then makes the final decision on temporary residence based on employment once all other legal requirements have been fulfilled.

The government has set a quota of 10,000 permits for foreign workers in 2026, although this does not mean that all of them will be issued to newly arriving workers.

Where are the foreign workers needed?

Wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, accommodation and food services, and construction are among the sectors reporting the strongest demand for workers. According to the Employment Agency, some of the most in-demand jobs include call centre operators, salespeople, general workers, cleaners, waiters, cashiers, truck drivers, cooks and construction workers.

For an employer struggling to keep a business running, hiring a worker from Nepal or Bangladesh can be a practical solution. But the wider labour-market picture is more complicated. The Employment Agency website currently lists around 8,000 vacancies, while the number of registered unemployed people is more than ten times higher.

That raises a basic question: are North Macedonia’s workers unwilling to take these jobs, or are wages, working conditions and the skills required making them difficult to fill?

According to the latest state statistical office data, North Macedonia had 88,541 unemployed people at the end of June, while another 41,281 were not actively seeking employment.

The unemployment rate stood at 11.3% in the second quarter of 2026, unchanged from the previous quarter, according to data released by the statistical office on August 26. While the rate has fallen sharply from the record high 39% in 2005, it remains relatively high.

Trade union leader Slobodan Trendafilov says the country also has more than 100,000 informal workers, many of them in sectors such as agriculture and construction where employers report shortages, according to Nezavisen.

Trendafilov argues that the reasons for the labour shortage should be addressed before the country relies increasingly on foreign workers — particularly wages, working conditions, respect for workers’ rights and job security.

“Before talking about importing workers, the state and employers must answer one key question: why are these jobs not being filled with domestic workers?” he said.

He also pointed out that some foreign workers may see North Macedonia as a temporary destination before moving to Western Europe, where wages and working conditions are better.

“If we want a strong economy, we need well-paid workers. If we want young people to stay, we need to give them a reason to stay. And if we want people to live with dignity, we must ensure they receive a decent salary,” said Ivan Pesevski, vice president of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM), according to a recent Facebook post.

The other side of the problem

The shortage of workers cannot be separated from another long-term trend — emigration.

Many Macedonian workers, particularly younger people, continue to look abroad for higher salaries and better career opportunities. This means that the country is losing part of the workforce that businesses need, while simultaneously trying to attract workers from other countries.

The demographic impact is already visible in schools. Education Minister Vesna Janevska said last week that around 14,500 first-graders had been enrolled so far this year, more than 4,000 fewer than a year ago. The decline in the number of children has already resulted in around 200 fewer primary-school classes and 100 fewer secondary-school classes.

The government also expects 26 rural schools to close during the school year because they have no first-graders enrolled. Some of these schools have only five to eight pupils.

The falling number of children is more than a demographic statistic. It points to the size of the future workforce North Macedonia can expect — and makes the question of how those young people are educated even more important.

Education needs to match the labour market

North Macedonia therefore, faces two related challenges: not enough workers in some sectors today, and potentially an even smaller workforce tomorrow. This makes education reform an important part of the solution.

If young people are leaving because they cannot find well-paid jobs that match their skills, simply importing workers will not solve the underlying problem. At the same time, if employers cannot find people with the skills they need, the education system has to do more to prepare students for those jobs.

Janevska has said North Macedonia needs to follow European and global education trends, warning that otherwise young people entering the labour market could have weaker competitiveness abroad.

A stronger link between schools, vocational education, universities and employers could help address some of the mismatch. More practical training, better vocational programmes and skills aligned with sectors facing shortages could give young people a better chance of finding work at home. This could also help employers fill vacancies without relying as heavily on imported labour.

Foreign workers can help businesses deal with immediate shortages. But in the longer term, North Macedonia will need to address the reasons people leave, improve wages and working conditions, and make education more closely match the skills employers need.

Otherwise, the country risks facing the same problem on an even larger scale: fewer people available to work, more vacancies that are difficult to fill, and an economy increasingly dependent on workers from abroad.