By ervin lisaku
TIRANA, September 28 – Albania’s unemployment rate continues remaining high despite a slight decrease in the second quarter of this year and signs of economic recovery. Latest data by the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) show the jobless rate in the second quarter of 2010 dropped to 13.78 percent, down 0.5 percent from the previous quarter.
This was mainly a result of a 0.2 percent year-on-year increase in the number of people employed in the private non-agricultural sector.
According to INSTAT, the number of jobless people reported in the April-June period this year increased by only 33 compared to the first quarter, at a time when the labour force rose by 4,230 persons. Registered jobless people at the end of the second quarter totaled 144,641 compared to 144,608 in the first quarter and 141,335 in the second quarter of 2009. Only 10,775 people, some 7.5 percent of the total, benefited economic assistance.
INSTAT, estimates there are 496,190 people working in rural areas, where all people are automatically calculated as self-employed in the agricultural sector. The data are based on a 2008 labour force survey.
The minimum wage remained unchanged at 18,000 lek, under a May 2009 government decision.
Meanwhile, the number of people employed in the public sector increased by only 250 people while the number of those working in the private sector grew by 3,947.
Unemployment rate in Albania continued rising even in the first three months of 2010, despite the positive GDP growth of 2 percent registered in the first quarter of this year. Data published by the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) showed unemployed increased to 13.83 percent during the first quarter of 2010, up from 12.68 percent during the same period last year and 13.75 in the last quarter of 2009.
However, INSTAT data do not include rural areas, whose population is considered self-employed in the agricultural sector because of possessing land.
Despite criticism by the opposition and some experts, INSTAT says that calculating all people who own land as self-employed is in compliance with the methodology used by Eurostat.
The average level of partial financial assistance is 3,170 lek (30 dollars) a month and 3,940 lek (39 dollars) for full assistance, said INSTAT.
The unemployment rate registered its sharpest increase at the end of 2009 when it climbed to 13.75 percent, up from 12.68 percent at the end of 2008.
Experts say the situation is a result of the crisis in the construction sector which continued its poor performance even in the first three months of this year, dropping by 21.1 percent year-on-year and 4.3 compared to the last quarter of 2009. Construction has been one of the most dynamic sectors in the country contributing to more than 10 percent of the GDP in the past years and employing 18 percent of people working in the private sector.
Last July, government increased the minimum wage to 19,000 lek (190 dollars) a month up from 18,000 lek for all employees of public and private sector after raising public sector wages from 2 to 12 percent.
Employment expectations for the remaining second half of the year remain negative despite a slight improvement compared to the previous quarter, when the economy grew by 2 percent and unemployment climbed to 13.83 percent, according to a central bank survey.
Around 39 percent of the respondents expect the unemployment rate to rise in coming months and only 20.6 percent of those surveyed think there will be less unemployment in the near future.
The big purchases and saving situation balances remained negative despite a slight improvement.
Albania’s consumer confidence index marked a turning point in the second quarter of 2010 ending its one-year declining trend as people became more optimistic about their economic futures, according to the latest survey by the Bank of Albania. Business owners and executives also had a more optimistic outlook.
