Administration's Inflated: How Did "Directors' Politics" Affect the May 11 Elections?

The public sector in Albania has been bloated and overburdened with additional employees in recent years, especially at the level of directors and unskilled workers, while the decline in the population due to emigration has caused the number of employees in relation to the population to grow even faster, official figures from the Institute of Statistics analyzed by BIRN suggest. At the end of 2024, the public sector, which includes the central administration, local government and enterprises with public share capital, had 184,000 employees, an increase of 20,000 people or 12.4% compared to 2013, when the Socialists first took power. The increase in public sector employees began after 2018 and peaked in 2021 and 2024, both election or pre-election years. The increase in the public sector has been particularly large at the director level, making it effective by 2023 for there to be one director for every eight specialists and ordinary workers.

While the number of employees in the state has increased, the population that these employees theoretically serve has decreased. The 2023 census data recorded a resident population in Albania of 2.4 million inhabitants, down from 2.82 million reported in 2011. Consequently, the number of employees in the public sector per 100 inhabitants has increased, from 6 per 100 to 7.8 per 100.

International observers reported in their preliminary report on the May 11 elections in Albania that public sector employees were put under pressure in these elections and that allegations and reports of pressure on the public sector were “widespread.” The observers point directly to Rama’s rallies with women, in which, as the report notes, the participants were mostly public sector employees and that in four cases, some of them told observers that they had been asked to appear at the prime minister’s rallies.

Abuses and pressures on the public sector are not new in Albanian elections, but what has been observed in the recent elections, and the language used by international observers, is truly unprecedented. For example, before the 2013 elections, the Socialist Party complained to international observers about cases of dismissals from public sector jobs of its supporters, and the observers, in the report of those elections, considered the SP’s complaints as “credible”. But this also means that, in 2013, eight years after the Democrats came to power, there were opposition supporters in the public sector, which cannot be said so easily today.

Sipas raportit të vëzhguesve ndërkombëtarë, por edhe sipas shumë politikanëve dhe aktivistëve, shfaqja e mbështetjes për një parti opozitare është e mjaftueshme për ta pushuar dikë nga puna, ndërsa disa kandidatë që garuan në zgjedhje për Partinë Socialdemokrate të Tom Doshit e gjetën veten pa punë menjëherë pasi shpallën kandidaturën.

Partitizimi i plotë i administratës publike dallohet edhe nga një analizë e jetëshkrimeve të kandidatëve për deputetë  të kryer nga BIRN para zgjedhjeve, në të cilën vihet re se mbi 90% e kandidatëve të Partisë Socialiste vijnë nga radhët e administratës publike ndërsa mes mbi 2 mijë kandidatëve të opozitës kryesore apo partive të reja, nuk ka pothuajse fare punonjës të sektorit publik.

Përdorimi i administratës publike si levë në zgjedhje ka gjasa do të ketë pasoja afatgjata në demokracinë shqiptare, pasi të 184 mijë punonjësit e sektorit publik janë mjaftueshëm për t’i dhënë qeverisë avantazhin që i nevojitet në zgjedhje përkundrejt çfarëdolloj kandidati apo kandidatësh nga opozita. Partia Socialiste fitoi zgjedhjet e 11 majit pasi mori brenda vendit 734 mijë vota, rreth 35 mijë më pak se sa në zgjedhjet e vitit 2021. Por për shkak se popullsia e përgjithshme votuese ka rënë me 200 mijë, votat e PS-së u përkthyen në një përqindje edhe më të lartë nga sa ishin katër vjet më parë.

Të punësuarit në sektorin publik ndahen për efekt administrativ në të punësuar të qeverisë qendrore dhe në të punësuar të tjerë. Sektori buxhetor i qeverisë qendrore, shifrat e punësimit të së cilës janë pjesë e buxhetit që miratohet në parlament, ka pësuar rritje më të vogël në dekadën e fundit dhe këtë vit pritet të jete 85 mijë. Këtu përfshihen të punësuarit e sektorëve kyçë si shëndetësia dhe arsimi. Ajo që është shtuar është sektori i të punësuarve në pushtetin vendor si dhe në ndërmarrjet publike, të tilla si Posta Shqiptare, OSHEE e të tjera. Transparenca e të dhënave në këtë sektor nuk krijon mundësi për të parë se ku specifikisht janë shtuar të punësuarit dhe çfarë bëjnë të punësuarit shtesë. Ajo që dihet janë vetëm shifrat finale: Në vitin 2013 kishte 164 mijë të punësuar në sektorin publik, në dhjetor 2024 kishte 184 mijë.

Drejtorë dhe punëtorë

The Institute of Statistics publishes data on employees in the public sector divided by occupational group. This means that it is possible to see not only the total number of employees, but also at which levels we have had additions. Detailed data in this way is available until 2023. Of the 17 thousand additional employees that have been recorded from 2013 to 2023, it is noticeable that a full 6700 are in the category of Legislators, senior civil servants and managers, while 11 thousand have been added to the specialist level. Despite the addition to directors and specialists, the addition to the category of Ordinary Civil Servants is only 1600, while that of the Workers level is only 4,400 people. In short, the public sector has been inflated with 6700 directors, who have to manage the work of 11 thousand specialists and a little over 6000 workers and ordinary civil servants. The number of employees in a category called Technicians and Assistant Specialists has decreased by about 6 thousand.

Such a rapid increase in directors in relation to total employees meant that in 2013 there was one senior manager for every eight employees in the public sector, compared to one for every twelve a decade ago.

In a normal situation, the number of public sector employees should follow the population. Given that the population has fallen by 14% since the Socialists came to power in 2013, the number of public sector employees should have fallen to 140,000 today from 184,000. In short, one in three people employed in the public sector seems like too much. The public sector wage bill, around 1.1 billion euros in 2024, would have to be over 300 million euros lower if the number of employees in the state were to be within what is reasonable for a country with Albania’s current population. The 300 million euros would normally enable public investment or social policies, such as pension increases, while the countless directors in question would have to accept working in the private sector, where the added value of work is measured in money, not votes./ BIRN