Informality in the Albanian labor market is widespread, but the majority of it is concentrated among low-wage workers, while 20% of the phenomenon is dominated by those who receive high wages, notes a study by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).

Despite efforts by countries, progress towards sustainable formalization is slow, and informal employment remains high.

Given that the majority of informal workers earn low wages, this can become a cause of national, regional, and global crises, such as the OECD estimates that currently nearly 2 billion workers worldwide are in informal employment and account for 60% of total employment, with the majority of them earning low wages.

OECD has defined low wages up to 50% of the average wage level, average wages are from 50% of the average to 150% of the average; and high wages with over 150% of the average wage.

In Albania, informality in the labor market is concentrated 60% in low wages, 20% in average wages, and 20% in high wages.

Informality in the labor market, besides creating fiscal and economic costs, causes long-term social problems. This category does not benefit from social and health insurance systems and risks inheriting the same situation to the children of those employed informally, and generally outside the legal system.

This large category of workers in the informal sector bears two major burdens, the lack of legal rights and low wages, highlights the OECD.

Informality in high wages is concentrated among workers who are highly productive (perhaps due to higher skills) and who have high incomes seeking not to declare part of their income for tax purposes.

While low-wage informal workers usually have basic knowledge and work in sectors that do not require skills but rather manual labor.

Approximately 45.0% of informal workers globally have only primary education or less, while this figure is only 7.0% for formal workers.