Macedonia has roughly 2 million people. A recent report says that 600.000 or circa 30% live below the poverty level. The country is drowning.

Poverty stood at around 20% only 5-6 years ago and was far smaller at the beginning of the transition. The last four years saw 120.000 people, or an average of 30.000 per year, sink below the poverty line. This is when speaking in terms of absolute poverty levels; if relativised, the numbers climb higher - every second Macedonian suffers from some form of poverty. The major cause - unemployment.

In a region that has been chronically suffering from high unemployment rates, Macedonia is still the uncontested champion. Officially 38, 6% or around 320.000 people are jobless. The situation is especially critical with the unemployment of young people who are disproportionately represented among the job seekers. A staggering 65-70% of young people are without a job. Most of them suffer from the worst possible kind of unemployment, the so called "first time, long term unemployment", that is to say that they have never ever held any type of a job after having completed education, and that they are unemployed for a prolonged period of time. According to experts, this has a devastating and hard-wearing effect on young people. They will never ever achieve the mature productivity that they could potentially have, given their human potential. The skills they have achieved through educations will deplete over time. In other words - their chances to have meaningful lives are marginal. Unless they manage to escape.

Having said this, an analysis of the political process and rhetoric in Macedonia will render this issue completely invisible. Nobody ever talks about it, it is not a priority. A politician may pay it lip service now and then in pre-election time. People instead choose to enter into lengthy anxious debates over whether the former interior minister in The Hague will defend himself from freedom or from confinement, or whether Albanian can be used as an official language or not in some small sub-committee at some lower administrative level. Somebody would say that we have what we deserve? How can a country have 2/3 of its young people in complete desolation and not care about it? No wonder then that the ultimate legitimate dream is to migrate and never look back.

People try to survive anyway they can: petty smuggling and trade, manual day-laboring as a cargo or field worker, picking wild fruits, mushrooms, growing snails, waiting for social welfare, going through containers, visiting soup-kitchens (usually run by church charities). Those who work, (outside the capital which is practically the only place where one can hope for a "normal" job), are either in government service, under exploitative position with private sweatshops (garment, shoe factories, etc.), or running a small neighborhood grocery or a boutique. The stories are overwhelming.

"We live off my wife's salary, who for 250 hours a month in a garment shop gets 3-4,000 denars (50-70 Euros). There is no work for me", says a citizen from the province.

The once strong textile industry that was run by huge factories and employed thousands of people was almost completely destroyed in the process of privatization, impoverishing entire cities that were mono-industrial. It revived in the form of small sweatshops overtaken by foreign (but not only) proprietors who cruelly exploit labor. The vast majority of workers are women. There are entire small towns in Macedonia where only women work. They do up to 12 hours a day for a minimum wage and absolutely no benefits or any type of social security. They fear to turn to the labor unions because they have no alternative to the exploitative jobs they have. The bosses, aware very well of this fact, abuse it to the maximum. The government knows it but it is incapable of acting. If they would go after the exploiters and close them down - the people will break to the streets. It is a vicious circle.

"The Greek [owner] told us we are poor workers... that we cannot saw...and that particular day he kept us working till 11 in the evening. Our salary is 4,000 (70 Euro)", complains a textile worker.

"I get 50 Euro of welfare (as discharged worker). Together with my wife's pension we have 150 per month. The kids are students. We started to keep bees, produce honey; we bake some brandy from our small vineyard. This brings us additional 100. We barely survive", says a former agricultural - cooperative worker.

Only 3% of the people in Macedonia say that the salary suffices their needs. The vast majority say that they would need up to 500 Euro (per family) for the monthly expenses. The average salary is at around 150 Euro. However, it is difficult to find a family with both spouses working. Then, salaries can be late for months. You can be employed but without knowing if, when, and how much you get. A family with one stable salary is considered to be well off. People struggle to pay the bills. The public utility companies have come up with different schemes for debtors. They ask them for manual labor (to cut the grass, dig canals etc.) as compensation if they cannot cover their bills.

The entire government budget goes for salaries and welfare. There is nothing left for investment. The economists are unanimous that this way growth will never come about. Still, the budget is stretched thin. End last year UNICEF warned the government that even countries that are much poorer than Macedonia take better care of their children. Its report said that the government gives only 5% of the GDP to health and even less, 3, 7% to education. This is extremely low.

Towns that relied heavily on one strong employer, such as a mine or a big factory, experienced total depressions with their bankruptcies. Families are lucky if they have a grandmother or a grandfather who lives with them with their pension as the only source of regular income. Some unofficial estimates have it that the total amount of small town private debt to neighborhood groceries and shops (for basic necessities) can reach a couple of million Euros. People take on credit and then they cannot repay. Shops put up the ancient, forgotten banners reading "honor to all, credit to no one".