Albania to Ease Foreign Workers Hiring Process

TIRANA, March 2

Albania’s immigration laws are expected to undergo a shake-up to widen the doors for migrant workers. It was Prime Minister Edi Rama who said during Monday’s Parliamentary session that the available workforce is not enough to meet labor demand. Hence he added that the process of hiring foreign employees will be simplified. According to PM Rama, companies and enterprises will be able to complete the hiring process in seven days.
The workforce shortage is a rising concern in the Western Balkan countries.

The new initiative would provide relief for the construction industry and the reconstruction program, as well as for other industries. The current slack in the labor market seems to be the reason why the government is opting for foreign works. Albanian people have the skills that would make them useful employees but they refuse to work below their abilities or work in jobs where they don’t use those skills. On the other hand, there is an uneven labor market characterized by labor shortages in some sectors and over-supplies of job seekers in others.
Job and employment websites listings show hundreds of opportunities for jobs in call centers and BPO companies, manufacturing, construction, etc. On the other hand, there are jobs where a large number of candidates compete for the same position.

Students Choose Careers that Don’t Match With Labor Market Demand

In the meantime, the gap between jobs in Albania’s top sectors of economy and education is growing wider. The country experiences a persistent mismatch between the skills needed in the labor market and those offered by the workforce.
Data from 2018-2019 confirm that over one fourth or 33,447 students chose law, business or administration. The second most preferred university subject was healthcare and well-being. Just like the ICT graduates even the students that graduate in medicine and healthcare prefer to leave Albania for other countries especially Germany.
The third most appealing subject to Albanian students was Civil Engineering, with over 20,019 students enrolled.
The list continues with Arts and Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Journalism and Communication, Education Sciences, and ICT.

On the other hand, the growing tourism and hospitality industry in Albania requires a more qualified workforce. This trend was reflected in a 39 percent growth of students enrolled in tourism-related subjects. Meanwhile, the number of students in Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Statistics increased by 12 percent.

Two of the sectors that contribute to most jobs in Albania are Agriculture and services, yet they have the lowest number of students’ enrolments respectively 4,999 and 4,279.

Source: local media