Two additional American based companies have announced to the Government that they plan to open plants in Macedonia, hiring a total of 2.000 workers. In an interview with Sitel TV, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said that the names of the companies can't be made public yet, but their decisions to invest in Macedonia are final and will be followed by other companies the Government is in contact with.

"Some time in November the two American companies will make public their decision, in which one of them will hire 500 people and the other will open 1.500 new jobs. Business rules prevent me from publishing their names, but the companies have given us their approval to announce the coming investments", Gruevski said. The Government has made bringing international manufacturing companies into Macedonia as one of the pillars of its economic program, opening free industrial zones where companies that open large numbers of jobs and bring innovative production technologies receive subsidies, such as tax cuts and pre-prepared construction sites.

Gruevski said that, in the economy, there were 19.000 new jobs opened so far in 2015, with additional 6.000 expected by the end of the year.

"When we took over in 2006, unemployment was at 38 percent. That was a record not only for Macedonia but for Europe. since then, we've had continuous reductions in the unemployment, in every single quarter, even at times of the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis. Even at these difficult years, where all other countries saw their unemployment rise, in Macedonia it declined, sometimes by a small percentage, but declined none the less, and now it is down to a record low of 26,8 percent", Gruevski said.

The Prime Minister added that out of the 19.000 new jobs for 2015, 5.800 were opened in the new foreign direct investments, and additional 7.150 were opened through the Employing Macedonia program, that cuts benefit taxes for vulnerable unemployed persons.

"This is an excellent trend. Our 2014 election program provided that we will open 64.000 new jobs by 2018 and have the unemployment rate down to 22 percent. We may outpace this number, given that more and more foreign investors are coming and domestic investors are also opening new jobs. We do all we can to help both international and domestic investors to have the best possible conditions for doing business in Macedonia", Gruevski added.