Although these are the final topics covered by the Youth Aspiration Survey analysis(carried out by Institute for Democracy- Skopje in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung), the economy and emigration are very important components of a young person's life, as the economic processes fundamentally determine not only his or her prospects in society, but also in the family, which is considered to be the basic cell of the community. As the title states, this chapter covers two separate topics which are very interrelated: economy and emigration. Economy Table 16 shows the basic economic indicators in the Republic of Macedonia. Although certain progress can be noticed in some economic categories, this is not enough to initiate stabilization in two extremely important economic components: employment and foreign trade. Unemployment 49 , one of the basic determinants for economic development, is probably the most urgent problem in Macedonia, bearing in mind the constant lack of employment opportunities. Another problem is the ratio of exports to imports, that is, the high deficit in foreign trade. These indicators are the reason that almost a half (44.8%) of the respondents emphasized unemployment as the greatest current problem in the Republic of Macedonia. At the same time, 87.8% of the surveyed young people replied bad or very bad to the question: In your opinion, what is the country's economic situation like at the moment? However, it should be pointed out that one-third of the respondents think the situation will improve in the near future, which represents a relatively optimistic attitude compared to another survey that covered the whole population, in which only 18% of respondents representing all age groups believed the economy would improve in the near future. 50 This difference in answers is due to a greater optimism in the young population, although it is worrying that 2/3 of them predicted the situation would remain the same or would even become worse. However, it should be pointed out that half of the 2001 2002 2003 2004 GDP in current prices(in million denars) 233. 841 243. 970 251. 486 265. 257 GDP in denars from 1995(in million denars) Real growth rate of the GDP GDP per capita in USD($) Population in the middle of the year 187. 342 -4.5 1. 830 2. 035 188. 941 0.9 1. 859 2. 020 194. 988 3.2 2. 230 2. 027 / 4.1 1) 2. 382 2. 032 Economically active population Number of employees according to ARS Number of unemployed according to ARS People out of the labour force Rate of unemployment according to ARS Activity rate Employment rate 862 599 263 692 30.9% 55.5% 38.6% 825 561 263 742 31.9% 52.6% 35.8% 861 545 316 718 36.7% 54.5% 34.5% 832 523 309 762 37.2% 52.2% 32.8% 2002 2003 2004 2005 Growth rate of nominal salaries 6.9 4.8 4.0 2.5 Growth rate of real salaries 5.0 3.6 4.4 2.0 Average paid net salary per employee in USD$ 1 174 218 / 256 Import 1. 962. 110 2. 299. 921 2. 931. 626 3. 227. 998 Export 1. 115. 527 1. 363. 252 1. 675. 877 2. 041. 265 2002/2001 2003/2002 2004/2003 2005/2004 Index of living expenses 101.8 101.2 99.6 100.5 Index of retail sale prices Index of prices of the manufacturers of industrial products 101.4 99.1 Table 16 48 102.4 99.7 100.9 100.9 102.1 103.2 _____________________________________________________________ 48 Source: Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Macedonia. 49 The Republic of Macedonia has the highest rate of unemployment in Europe, which according to estimations is about 38% www.intra.rbec.undp.org. 50 Data taken from the last survey for the Early Warning Report, March 2006, p. 23. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 41