One-third of small businesses run by women

TIRANA, Oct. 25 – Women run one-third of small businesses in Albania with around 30,000, deputy Labour and Social Affairs Minister Filloreta Kodra said in a round table called “Women’s economic empowerment- the country’s economic development” held this week in Tirana.
Referring to a 2008 survey conducted by the country’s Institute of Statistics, Kodra said the pay gap between men and women in Albania was at 19.2 percent. She said the ministry was taking legal steps to draft employment promotion policies though vocational training courses based on labour market demands to change the situation.
Women in need, including those from the Roma community, victims of trafficking and women head of families will benefit free of charge training courses to get a job.
According to the ministry, women in Albania are mostly employed in the public health and education sectors and less in private sectors of tourism, manufacturing and trade.
Better access to education and vocational training courses are two of the ministry’s goals to increase women’s participation in the labour market and make them financial contributors in their households.
Labour Minister Spiro Ksera said the economic empowerment of women would directly influence on reducing domestic violence cases, trafficking and other social problems.
Albania has some 90,000 small businesses, 20,000 of which only in Tirana.
A sharp increase of 48 percent in new business registration was noted in the first six months of 2010, the National Registration Center reports. The increase is in comparison to the same period a year ago.
During the year’s first six-month period, there were 10,514 businesses registered at the center, and these were primarily commercial businesses – with the service sector leading, followed by production.