At least 61,000 employees have lost their jobs as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis in Albania.
In an interview, the Director-General of Taxation, Delina Ibrahimi said that some 61,000 have left the social security scheme during April.
“We have made a general calculation of those who have left the social security scheme that will be supported by the government aid packages.
As of April 10, this number was about 57,000 and are people who have benefited from the first package.”
A further four thousand were not included in the first package and will be supported by the second, according to Ibrahimi.
INSTAT data showed that by the end of 2019 there were 160,000 unemployed people in Albania. This figure now sits at 221,000, an increase of 37%.
This data does not include those thousands of employees in small businesses who are not at work, or who have gone bankrupt because their business has been shut down due to the pandemic. A more accurate figure will be expected in the coming months.
