60% of returned migrants seek employment assistance

TIRANA, July 23 – Around 60 percent of migrants returning home because of crisis in their host countries are seeking the assistance of state agencies to find a job. This is confirmed by Filloreta Kodra, Albania’s deputy Labour Minister speaking during a forum on employment policies.
In the first quarter of 2012, some 474 immigrants sought the assistance of migration offices, which is three times more compared to the same period a year ago. “Around 58 percent of the returnees registered in migration offices want a job, some 22 percent prefer vocational education training and 5 percent are interested in opening a business. The remaining part has been assisted on procedures to benefit financial assistance or free of charge medical services,” said Kodra.
The Labour Ministry says unemployment in the age group of 30 to 34 has recently increased by 2 percent. Around 38 percent of Albania’s official jobless people includes jobseekers aged until 34 years old.
The findings were presented during a forum on “Improving employment policies within the framework of EU-membership.” A study conducted by local NGO European Movement Albania, presented in the forum showed that while the implementation of promotion programmes to enhancing employment, has proven to be a positive aspect in Albania, this success was only limited. “In addition to having multiple stake-holders, which have complicated the system and made it less attractive, the lack of full implementation of programs has also affected the popularity of employment offices, and therefore, the cooperation with private entities, said Blerta Hoxha, an EMA researcher.
An estimated 70,000 Albanian migrants, or 15 percent of total migrants, have permanently left Greece since 2008 when the neighbouring country went into its worst ever recession, according to government officials. No figures are available for Italy where another 400,000 Albanian migrants live and work. Greece and Italy are hosts to more than 1 million Albanian migrants.
Although often prejudiced as unrealistic by experts and opposition MPs, INSTAT data show early 2012 registered a slight increase in unemployment rate. INSTAT reports the jobless rate rose by 0.03% to 13.32% compared to the final quarter of 2011 but was down 0.11% year-on-year.
INSTAT data are often criticized as unreliable due to the methodology calculating all people living in rural areas possessing land as self-employed and taking into account only those people who register themselves as unemployed with state agencies.
The public sector provides only 17.7 percent of total employment in Albania. The private non-agricultural sector accounts for 27.6 percent while the private agricultural sector has a 47 percent share
The number of people employed in the private non-agricultural sector is reported at 262,000. Detailed INSTAT data show trade is top employer in Albania with 65,000 people at the end of 2011. Second comes the processing industry dominated by textile and footwear enterprises with 63,000 people. The construction industry, once the key driver of the Albanian economy, now employs only 35,000 people from 52,000 in 2007 when it went into crisis.