It’s reported that the pandemic increased the number of unemployed Albanians at job centres by 25%.
In the State Labour Offices at the end of Q3, there were 88,393 job seekers registered, 25% more than the same period in the previous year. Data from the authorities did show however that the total number of unemployed people has decreased in the last few years from 148,000 in 2015.
It’s not known how many of these emigrated and left Albania. Considering over 360,000 Albanians left in 2019 alone, it could be that this decrease in unemployment is due to migration, not more jobs.
It’s also known that many Albanians do not trust the unemployment office and are not registered with it. Balkan Web reported there could be twice as many unemployed as registered with the office. INSTAT found that most of those who find employment do so without the use of employment offices. Some 7% of job seekers find their work in these locations.
According to the National Employment Agency, some 180 job vacancies are available at the moment, most of which are low-salary manual labour jobs with no skill requirements.
