In 2020, Albania had 27.9% of young people aged 15-29 who were neither at work nor at school, according to INSTAT.
Compared to a Eurostat ranking, Albania is fourth, after Turkey, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Italy, with the highest percentage of young people who neither work nor study nor are in any training ( see graph).
During the last year, one in six young Europeans were neither at school nor at work, or 17% of the total number of young people, while in Albania, approximately 1 in 4 young people is neither employed nor employed. studies.
Recent results from the EU Labor Force Survey showed that following a downward trend in the percentage of young people who are neither at work nor at school since 2013, during 2020 saw an increasing turn due to the pandemic Covid-19.
The lowest rates of inactive youth were in the Czech Republic (5.6% of men) and in the Netherlands (9.5% of young women). In contrast, the highest rates in the EU were recorded in Italy for young men and women, at 24.0% and 35.0% respectively who were neither at work nor at school.
In all European countries, the percentage of young women neither at work nor at school was higher than that of men.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created difficulties in the labor market by mainly affecting the most vulnerable groups, women and youth. Over the past year, over 12,000 young Albanians lost their jobs.
Many young people who have lost their jobs have turned to employment offices for help. Official data show that in the fourth quarter of 2020, about 5,000 young people aged 15-29 were newly registered as unemployed in state employment offices.
Other sectoral data suggest that young people who lost their jobs were employed in the tourism-related services and businesses sector, such as hotels, bars and restaurants.
Rising unemployment at the age of 15-29 adversely affects immigration trends in the country, which were high even before the pandemic crisis.
An expert study by Gëdeshi and King has identified that, 70% of 20-year-olds wanted to leave the country in 2018. This desire to leave the country is greater among young people than in other age groups. The causes are related to a series of social and economic factors, says Gëdeshi.
