Though 36% of the Albanian workforce is employed in informal labor, the government has yet to lay out a coherent coronavirus financial relief plan for these workers.
On April 20, Prime Minister Edi Rama promised that the informally employed would receive direct economic aid from the government and the specifics would be unveiled the following week. Earlier, Rama had warned that informal workers would only be eligible for financial relief if they reported their employers. Rama even promised a reward for workers that came forward, however official guidelines have not been made public.
Over a week after the Prime Minister’s promise, a concrete plan for over a third of the country’s workers has yet to materialize. Meanwhile, in the face of precarity and lacking the safety net of government relief, these workers will likely continue to go to work, thus contributing further in the spread of coronavirus.
