Due to the departure of young people, we risk being left without a workforce

In addition to the decline, the population structure is aging and the elderly dominate. The 2023 Census data show that the average age of the population reached 42.5 years, increasing by 7 years from 2011, when this indicator was 35.5 years.

The influencing factors of births, deaths and international and internal migration brought about the change in the structure of the population, in the 2023 Census.

The population pyramid based on the 2023 Census is very narrow at the bottom due to declining births and is widening in the middle and top due to the increase in the elderly population.

2023 Census data show that one in five individuals (19.7%) are 65 or older, compared to one in nine individuals (11.3%) in the 2011 Census and 7.5% in the 2001 Census.

The transition towards an older population is also seen in dependency ratios. The youth dependency ratio decreased to 24.0% from 30.4% estimated in the 2011 Census, and the elderly dependency ratio increased to 30.4% from 16.7% in 2011.

Analyzed at the district level, Kukësi and Gjirokastra hold opposite positions in terms of dependency ratios: Kukësi has the highest youth dependency ratio (31.8%) and the lowest elderly dependency ratio (19.9 %).

For businesses, the reduction of the population and its aging over the years has made the problem of finding workers even more acute.

"We are distracted by the lack of manpower. It is impossible for me to replace staff who are expected to retire with other employees. There are no young people, they have left to emigrate.

We are forced to hire foreigners, even though we risk getting involved again in the vicious circle where one party leaves and another comes in", underlines Nikolla Tona.

For the entrepreneur Kristo Naçi, only the increase of the average salary in the economy to 1,000 euros would be able to curb emigration.

"Due to the lack of labor force from emigration, we have continuously increased wages. Currently, the average salary for our employees is 1 thousand euros.

The policy to increase wages has proven to be effective in curbing the departure of employees. But also the salary increase of the employees should be in line with the productivity of the work.

I think that increasing the average salary in the economy to the level of 1,000 euros would stop the emigration of young people and family members", says Mr. Naci.

Even the head of the EHW meat processing plant, Mr. Luan Leka says "that the problem of the employees will be solved when we pay them so much that they have no interest in leaving".

For 2023, according to INSTAT data, the average salary in the economy reached 70.5 thousand ALL per month, with an increase of 14% compared to the previous year. Indexed for inflation, real average wages in the economy rose 8.8%, the biggest improvement since 2015, when the data were reported.

Among the highest paid professions in Albania, those employed at the managerial and executive level continue to remain, as well as the IT engineering professions.

For the year 2023, according to INSTAT data, "administrative and commercial managers" was the profession group that had the highest salary in the country, with 194 thousand lek per month for 2023. Compared to the previous year, their salary has increased with 15 thousand ALL, or 8.6%.

For the first time, the second highest paid profession in the country was "Information and Communication Technology Specialist", with an average salary of 144,000 ALL per month.

IT professionals received an average of 16 thousand ALL, or 12.6% more in 2023. The increase in salaries was influenced by the orientation of businesses towards technology together with the lack of specialists in this sector, because it is one of the professions that is emigrating the most a lot.

While in the third highest paid profession are the group of employees "managers of production and specialized services", with an average salary of almost 144 thousand lek per month, with an increase of 9.2% (+12 thousand lek)./ Monitor