Unemployment Rate Continues Downward Trend

TIRANA, December 13

The unemployment rate trajectory continued on a downward trajectory during the third quarter of 2017. It fell at 13.6 percent while during the same period of the previous year the unemployment rate was 14.7 percent. The Albanian Institute of Statistics confirmed that the unemployment rate remained on a downward trajectory for seven quarters in a row. Starting from the end of 2015 when the unemployment rate was 17.3 percent it went down to 13.6 percent in September 2017.
According to INSTAT, private business hiring and the recovery of labor market following the 2012-2015 crisis had a positive impact and pushed down the rate to the current level. The Institute of Statistics also confirms that over 60,000 jobs were created during the first nine months of 2017. These data were based on the payroll statements.
In the meantime, the number of employees in the public administration remains at the same level as in 2016 while a slight decline was noticed in the number of people employed in the agriculture sector.
During the last three years, job growth came from the private business however it is not clear how much it was affected by the creation of new jobs and how much by the formalization of informal sectors such as the black market.

News Source: TCh