TIRANA, July.17- The administration has officially increased Albania’s minimum wage with a proposal by Minister of Labor, Social Issues and Equal opportunities, Kosta Barka. The new minimum wage has become 16,100 leks from the previous 14,000. The initiative has been promoted by the Finance Ministry as well, and it is hoped the new wage will lower informality in employment practices and encourage collections of higher tax revenues. Starting from this current month, employees will be taxed on their income based upon the new minimum wage level.
The decision that affects mostly unqualified labor will significantly increase production costs as employers will have to pay no less than 3300 leks for employee social security contributions. The leather and textiles industry will be particularly affected from the new wage increase. Industries that work with partial raw materials have objected to the increase in minimum wages arguing that it hurts the competitive advantage of cheap labor that Albania has in their industry.
