The extracting industry, which has been attracting considerable foreign direct investment in recent years, was the only industry branch to increase the number of employees by 7.1 percent and raise wages by 16.7 percent
TIRANA, April 3 – Facing lower domestic and external demand, almost all major industries in Albania cut their staff and froze wage increases in 2011, according to short-term statistics published by the country’s state Institute of Statistics, INSTAT.
Data measuring turnover indices in industry, construction, hotels, wholesale trade, transport and communication show almost all of these industries are suffering a decrease in production and sales, forcing them to make compulsory job cuts, lower wages or index them only to inflation.
Data show the industry sector cut 1.5 percent of its staff in the final quarter of 2011 due to industrial production dropping by 20 percent, compared to the same period in 2010. Within this group, the processing industry, which produces Albania’s top exports, cut 1.3 percent of its employees. The “electricity, gas and water supply” branch cut staff by 6.5 percent. The extracting industry, which has been attracting considerable foreign direct investment in recent years, was the only industry branch to increase the number of employees by 7.1 percent and raise wages by 16.7 percent.
The construction sector, once the key driver of the Albanian economy, further plunged into crisis cutting 3.7 percent of staff and lowering wages by 2 percent due to sluggish demand.
The number of workers in the wholesale trade was also cut by 7.8 percent year-on-year. Hotels were probably the most affected in the final quarter of 2011 when they cut staff by 12 percent and lowered wages by 10 percent. The telecommunication sector also cut its staff by 2.3 percent.
Turnover indices in the rail, maritime, and air transport rose by an average of 18 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2011.
The short-term statistics are published just before INSTAT publishes the GDP estimate for the final quarter of 2011 and the whole year.
Businesses hire 2,522 people
The latest INSTAT data and businesses’ expectations about employment confirm the difficult situation Albania is facing despite managing to keep the economy growing at moderate annual 3 percent rates after the 2009 global crisis.
Official data show the number of newly employed people by the private sector in the final quarter of 2011 rose by only 2,522 people compared to the previous third quarter while the number of unemployment assistance beneficiaries grew by 839 people. Despite the private sector minor contribution, the official unemployment rate slightly rose by 0.04 percent to 13.29 percent at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, the number of officially reported jobseekers during the final quarter of 2011 rose by only 868 people to 142,950, but was down by 90 people compared to the final quarter of 2010, revealing that few jobless people, perceived on the rise after the global crisis, use the state employment agencies to find a job.
According to INSTAT, only 6 percent of the total registered jobless people benefit unemployment assistance of 6,850 lek (64.5 USD). INSTAT data show the minimum monthly wage stands at 20,000 lek (Euro 145) under a mid-2011 decision with the average state pension at 12,000 lek, and village pensions at 5,650 lek.
At the end of the final quarter of 2011, the number of people employed in the private agricultural sector, covering rural areas where inhabitants possessing land are automatically calculated as self-employed, remained unchanged at 506,664 people based on the results of a 2009 labor force survey. Public sector jobs also remained unchanged at 165,000 after 400 jobs were cut in early 2011.
Labor unions and the opposition claim the real unemployment rate is at least twice higher to what state institutions like INSTAT and the government officially declare. “The real unemployment rate in Albania varies from 22 to 34 percent based on regions and professions but always counting as employed even seasonal workers or home workers,” says the Confederation of Trade Unions.
INSTAT’s data are often criticized as unreliable due to the methodology calculating people living in rural areas possessing land as self-employed and taking into account only those people who think it’s worth registering themselves as unemployed with state agencies.
Albania’s official jobless rates are slightly higher compared to more prosperous Croatia, Turkey, Montenegro, but three times lower to also EU potential candidate Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2.3 times lower compared to neighbouring EU candidate Macedonia, and almost twice higher compared to Serbia, all of which have a higher GDP per capita compared to Albania, according to the EC and the Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.
