ABSTRACT
The transition in the Western Balkans involved major structural readjustments which led to a significant rise in long-term unemployment, an increase in informal economic activities, a drop in labour market participation and an increase in poverty. Social protection systems were focused mainly on passive measures to shelter individuals from poverty, and until recently relatively little has been done to actively assist unemployed people to find work. The privatization of socially owned and state-owned enterprises led to the loss of many of the social benefits which they had provided, while privatization was also extended into the social sector through the sale of social housing stock and the privatization of parts of the health services and pension systems.
