Unemployment in Albania is increasing, particularly amongst the youth, while thousands of positions in the tourism and service sector remain unfulfilled, jeopardising what is set to be a record year for tourism.
According to data from the national statistics institute, INSTAT, in the first three months of the year, the official unemployment rate was 10.9%, registering an increase of 0.7% when compared to the last quarter of 2022.
The rate for women, however, was slightly higher at 11.1% compared to 10.6% for men. But the highest unemployment rate was seen in the 15-29 age group, where some 22.5% of the population are not working, 1.8% higher than at the end of last year.
However, significant labour shortages exist in multiple areas of the economy, including tourism, with stakeholders estimating hundreds of thousands of positions in restaurants, cafes, bars, and hotels remaining unfilled.
Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on social media at the start of the season that this year is set to be the best on record.
“The unstoppable growth of tourists who are choosing our country not only for the summer season but throughout the whole year, from Tirana to everywhere, from north to south, is also confirmed by spectacular data from the World Tourism Organisation, which for the first three months of this year ranks Albania third in the world and first in Europe in terms of tourism growth compared to the period before the pandemic, thus signalling a fantastic summer season.”
Tourism so far in 2023 is up almost 60% on the year before, with 1.7 million visiting in the first four months of the year.
Feriolt Ozuni, tourism expert and head of a tourist agency, said that finding qualified or semi-qualified staff is a big challenge.
“The tourism industry needs at least 35% more staff, as this type of industry guarantees a seasonal period. We are forced to hire untrained staff, which affects the quality of services, but we have no other choice for some services.
Matilda Naco from the Albanian Tourism Association said they have been warning of the issue for some 13 years, raising concerns there are not enough people to meet the demand of this year’s season.
“We first observed this issue in 2010, and 13 years later, we are facing the same problem, which is a good indication of the gravity of the situation.”
The Minister of Tourism, Mirela Kumbaro, told Euronews that solving the issue is not just about increasing salaries but that both the government and private business owners operating in the sector need to treat these professions with dignity.
“Do we give enough dignity to professions in the field of tourism, service workers, hotel room cleaners, waiters, receptionists? Tourism is a dynamic industry that is developed by the private sector, and I think that private operators need to start responding as well as the government. If we treat them with dignity, employees will feel professionally superior,” she said.
Kumbaro added that considering tourism and service jobs as actual professions will make the sector more appealing to the public.
“We have started in recent years with chefs to give them a more prominent, interesting and well-paid profile, being a kind of patent for the name of the restaurant and hotel, and this means that we are on the right track,” she added.
But the issue is also present in Albania’s medicinal herb sector, which is being forced to look at foreign workers to meet its needs.
Currently, the country cultivates 330 types of medicinal herbs, with 186 varieties exported worldwide. In addition, it employs tens of thousands of people and places the country among the global leaders for the export of sage and lavender.
More than 100,000 Albanian households are engaged in the medicinal herb trade, equivalent to one in seven families. The sector generates up to $48 million in exports that wing their way overseas to make essential oils, herbal remedies and garnishes in fancy restaurants. Farmers say the industry’s potential is at least double its current volume.
Landi, a farmer from Koplik in the north of the country, explains that “One of the main obstacles in our industry is labour. There aren’t many people now to work in the fields, mostly because of migration. The old people are still there, they still work, but just they’re there. They don’t have enough strength anymore to do what needs to be done.”
Even in manufacturing, there are not enough workers to go around. The country’s textile industry employs over 150,000 people, with the vast majority of workers being female, across 1,034 companies, but stakeholders said concrete measures are needed to ensure the security of the sector.
As of the end of 2022, there were over 25,000 vacancies in the sector, due mainly to migration, but also a lack of interest in people wanting to work for the minimum wage. At the start of June, the minimum wage increased to 40,000 ALL, equivalent to €370.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
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