The International Labor Organization (ILO) referred that informal employment in Albania is 56.7 percent of the total number of employees reported by the Labor Force Survey conducted by INSTAT in 2019.
Excluding agriculture, the informality in the labor market is estimated at 32.2%.
The data from the attached graph show that of those who work, only 43.3 percent pay insurance, and the rest is in black, the most belonging to the agricultural sector.
Of the total informal workers, 63.9 percent belong to the agricultural sector, 12.6 percent to the trade sector, 7.6 percent to construction, 4.2 percent to restaurants and hotels. Further in the industry sector work 3.2 percent of informal workers, in Transport 3%, in the services sector 1.9%.
Professional activities, those of public administration, arts, and entertainment are less exposed to informal employment, according to Monitor.
More detailed data show that men are more inclined to work in the black. 59 percent of all working men were in black, while 54 percent of women. Excluding the agricultural sector, 40 percent of employed men are in black, compared to 32.2 percent of women.
Of the total number of people working illegally, 73 percent of them work in non-tax formalized activities and another 26% work in domestic activities as self-employed. Only 0.6% of uninsured employees work in tax-registered activities.
Until 2019, Albania had the highest level of employment in the Western Balkans with 53.8% of the able-bodied workforce, but the World Bank has analyzed that employment growth may have partly reflected the growing formalism of the labor market. After 2015, the government has taken action against informality, making an increased share of employment just formalization.
But the labor force survey analyzed by the ILO shows that informal employment continues to be a worrying phenomenon for Albania, which could be further exacerbated by the pandemic crisis.