The fashion sector continues to solve the labor shortage by hiring foreign workers. Soon 150 women from Nepal and 40 from the Philippines with similar experiences in their countries are expected to come to Albania.
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| Women working in the textile industry in Tirana |
According to Proeksport Albania, it turns out that currently the fashion sector has a significant shortage of 20,000 vacancies.
Due to the lack of labor force, Proeksport Albania has started the activation of contracts for the acquisition of workers from third countries, the Philippines, Nepal and Myanmar, where the majority are female, in order to preserve the history that this sector has with about 98% of employees composed of women, Monitor reports.
For this reason, Proeksport Albania, at the next meeting of the National Labor Council, will propose the removal of visas with Nepal, India and the Philippines, since the procedures for hiring employees take up to 120 days.
The President of the Association, Edvin Prençe, claimed for "Monitor" that the employment of women from the Philippines is proving successful. Prençe adds that for employees specifically from Nepal, the contracts are made possible with the guarantee of the embassy of this country.
"Seeing the pronounced lack of seasonal and annual workers in the sector, we will propose the removal of visas for Nepal, India and the Philippines. The procedures start when the employee is in the Albanian territory and the legal obligations with specific contracts have been fulfilled.
This procedure does not relieve the employer's obligation, but it speeds up the procedure itself, which takes a minimum of 90 to 100 days. This gives breathing space to businesses. Facilitates procedures for the workforce and eliminates time wasted in bureaucratic procedures. On the other hand, the benefits of the state from the income paid for social security will also increase", he asserts.
The lack of labor force, due to the emigration of local employees, especially young people, has led Albanian businesses to see hiring foreign workers as a necessary solution.
But the initiative to hire foreign workers, especially from countries like Bangladesh or Nepal, has not been successful for all sectors of the economy.
The representative of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, Enri Jahaj, claims that the measure has failed, where according to him, some accommodation structures, 40 to 50 recruited employees have recently left, as Albania is being used by them as a springboard country to emigrate to Europe.
To fill the gap with employees, the bar and restaurant sector is hiring employees from North Macedonia and Kosovo, but in very low numbers.
Even for the head of the Albanian Export Center, Alban Zusi, the measure does not turn out to be successful for the agro-industry sector either, as many employees have left to emigrate to other countries.
For the head of the association Proeksport Albania, Edvin Prençe, the employment of women is proving to be more successful than the hiring of men, as the risk of their leaving is many times smaller, while the guarantee given by the embassies of the respective countries, for the recruitment contracts it is an additional element for not leaving them.
The chairman of Proeksport Albania says that the initiative to get employees from Bangladesh has failed in cases where entrepreneurs have contracted employees through other companies and not through the association.