Measuring of The Goods and Labor Markets Efficiency: Comparative Study of Western Balkan Countries

Numerous theoretical and empirical evidences confirm the assumption that more competitive markets are followed by raising the level of efficiency. The aim of this paper is to consider to what extent are efficient goods and labor markets in the efficiency-driven countries, such as Western Balkans. Intense competitive pressure both by domestic and foreign companies, and demand conditions determined by customer orientation and consumer sophistication, have great importance in acceleration labor market efficiency. The delicacy of the measuring of the competition and demand conditions on goods market completes an empirical review of the achieved results in labor markets in 2018 in Western Balkan countries. The multicriteria analysis was carried out in order to rank countries and highlight those which have achieved remarkable goods and labor markets efficiency in the overall order of the countries. The obtained results suggest significant gaps and cyclical deviations from the regional average, related to goods market efficiency gaps, observed by selected indicators and countries. Problems in the fields of domestic competition, foreign competition, and insufficient quality of demand conditions in the individual markets, imposed the need to compare the comparative disadvantages and advantages in the Western Balkan countries. The comparative study can serve as a guide for defining future labor market policies due to it has been proven that countries with more efficient goods market have more favorable labor market indicators.