The long-term unemployment rate, the share of labour force that is unemployed for 12 months and more, rose to 10.2 percent, up from 9.1 percent in the previous 2009 survey.
TIRANA, April 8 – Albania’s unemployment rate, the share of labour force aged from 15 to 64 that is unemployed, slightly rose to 13.9 percent in 2011, up from 13.8 percent in 2009, according to the newly published 2011 labour force survey conducted by state Institute of Statistics. The long-term unemployment rate, the share of labour force that is unemployed for 12 months and more, also rose to 10.2 percent, up from 9.1 percent in the previous 2009 survey.
INSTAT justifies the finding that 21.5 percent of youth aged from 15 to 29 years old are unemployed with the school attendance of the majority of youth from this age group. Some 65.7 of youth aged between 15 to 29 years old are not participating in the labour market because of attending school.
Nearly 35 percent of economically inactive population or 66 percent of youth said they were students or attending training. Around 15 percent of the inactive population was engaged in household chores. Some 23.5 percent of women said they were inactive in the labour market because of being engaged in household chores, compared to only 0.3 percent for men.
Around 13 percent of the economically inactive population said they were not looking for a job because they believed there was no available work. Some 7.2 percent of young men and women aged between 15 to 29 years old consider themselves as discouraged workers, compared to 20 percent for the age group of 30 to 64 years old.
Around 12.5 percent of economically inactive population aged between 15 to 64 had retired while 8 percent suffered permanent disability. The survey shows 68.2 percent of the population of working age, aged 15 years old and above, was active in the labour market. Women account for 44 percent of active labour forces. Labour market participation involves 60 percent of women and 76 percent of men.
Data show the unemployment rate is higher for youth aged between 15 to 24 years old at 23.6 percent and lower for people aged between 35 to 44 years old at 9.9 percent. Long-term unemployment is higher for people aged from 15 to 29 at 13.4 percent and lower for those aged between 35 to 44 at 7.8 percent. The unemployment rate for men stands at 13.4 percent compared to 13.8 percent for women. In 2011, paid employees accounted for 40 percent of total employees. Self-employed men accounted for 35 percent of total employed men, while self-employed women for 21.7 percent of total employed women.
Some 42.5 percent of employed women were unpaid family business workers, 35.8 percent paid workers and around 20 percent self-employed. Only 20 percent of men were unpaid workers in a family business, while 43 percent were paid workers.
Some 7,300 households nationwide were interviewed for the 2011 labour force survey which was based in the 2011 housing and population census.
Employment by sector
The services sector employs 37 percent of people aged between 15 to 64 years old. Employment in market services such as trade, transport, financial activities, hotels and restaurants and car repair, communication and real estate accounts for 21 percent of total employment.
The public services composed of public administration, security, compulsory insurance, education and health accounts for 16 percent of total employment.
Employment in the agriculture sector in 2011 accounted for 44 percent of total, compared to 19 percent in the industry sector.
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.
While construction and extractive industry are dominated by male employment, the manufacturing industry mainly involving garment and footwear manufacturing is dominated by women. Women employed in the public services slightly dominate over men, mainly because of having a majority in the education and health sectors.
Unemployment rate revised downward
INSTAT has recently revised downward the unemployment rate for the final quarter of 2012 to 12.8 percent down from 13.26 percent early last March based on the new population census in 2011 which showed the population had shrunk by 7.7 percent to 2.8 million people in the past decade.
New revised data show the unemployment rate dropped to 12.8 percent in the final quarter of 2012, down from 12.9 percent in the third quarter and 13.1 percent in the final quarter of 2011.
The private sector known as the private non-agricultural sector was the key driver of the slight drop in unemployment rates at a time when the public sector made new job cuts. Despite crisis impacts, the private sector hired an extra 5,400 people in the final quarter of 2012 increasing its labour force to 278,000 people. Meanwhile, the public administration cut 400 jobs to 164,000. INSTAT has also revised upward the number of people employed in the private agriculture sector to 522,300, up from 485,408 in the third quarter of 2012. People employed in the agriculture sector are automatically calculated as self-employed because of possessing land. In the third quarter of 2012, INSTAT reports 485,408 people employed in agriculture, down from 506,664 in the past two years.
Average monthly wages in the public sector grew by 7.3 percent to 51,500 lek in the final quarter of the year while the minimum wage also rose by 1,000 lek to 21,000 lek.
INSTAT 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 register themselves as unemployed with state agencies.
What’s particular about the final quarter statistics is that the number of officially registered jobless people dropped by 1,195 people compared to the final quarter of 2011. INSTAT reports some 141,755 people registered with state employment agencies at the end of the final quarter of 2012, compared to 142,950 a year ago. Although no official explanation is made about the reduction of the those registered as unemployed who could have been found a job, the smaller number of jobseekers registered with employment agencies at a time when the number of jobseekers even holding a diploma is on the rise unveils the lack of confidence in these institutions. The number of people getting unemployment assistance in the final quarter of 2012 was also cut by 931 people in the final quarter of 2012.
Labour unions claim the real unemployment rate is at least twice higher compared to what INSTAT reports while the opposition says there are 1 million jobless people in Albania.
