Labor Market Trends in Albania

The labor market and foreign investments are two elements that can impact each other. In terms of the factors that have a key role in attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), Albania is seen as part of the Western Balkans and compared to the other countries of the region. Therefore, it’s easier to understand more about the Albanian labor market competitiveness toward the flow of FDI. Based on an economic growth overview for the region in 2017, Albania is among the countries with the best performance, with a GDP growth of 3.8 percent. Moreover, Albania kept an unchanged working-age population while Kosovo was the only country in the region that saw an increase in this indicator during 2017. In general, the Western Balkan’s countries saw a decline in the working-age population due to migration, low birth-rates, and aging population. Compared to the other countries of the region Albania has a lower gender gap in activity rates. The employment rate in 2016 was 49.7 percent for females 61.9 percent for males.
In 2016 the employment rate for the population aged 15-64 years old was 55.9percent
The sectors with the highest share of employed people were agriculture and the services sectors.
The employment structure by sectors in 2016 consisted of:
40.2 percent of the workforce in the agriculture sector
24.3 percent were working in market services
16.1 percent were working in nonmarket services
10.1percent working in the manufacturing sector
6.6 percent in other industries
In 2017 Albania ranked first in the WB with the highest number of highly educated employees.
The workforce in Albania is mostly represented by people between the ages of 25 and 54.
Albania has the highest rate of self-employed people.
Employment in the informal sector fell significantly in 2017
Compared to the other countries of the region, Albania ranks last regarding the wages level.
Source: INSTAT, The WB