Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) data for the first quarter of 2023 show that 13% of young people aged 25-29 in Albania are not active in the labor market.

Two main reasons leading to this social phenomenon are immigration and the decrease in population. As they face certain difficulties navigating into the labor market, this particular age group are neither working nor looking for a job, and are reported as inactive in the employment indicators.

Although there has been an increasing demand for employees in industries such as tourism and construction, this category is unable to push their way out of its struggles.

In the first quarter of 2023, youth unemployment rose further as improvements in the labor market came from higher employment of retirees.

Administrative sources show that in the first quarter, 17,988 people aged 15-29 were registered as unemployed at the employment offices, about 1,500 or 8.7% more than in the period from January to March 2022.

Furthermore, the country’s population has continued to fall with 1.1% and Albania is now estimated to have a population of 2.761.785.

In total, the country had 40 thousand fewer young people aged 0-29 in January 2023, compared to January 2022, of which 27,500 or almost 70%, are aged 15-29.

While there are fewer young people, older people aged over 60 are rapidly increasing, with some 17 thousand people more than a year ago.