Efficiency and Distributional Effects of the Two-Tracked Labor Market Institutions in Albania

Drishti, Elvisa; Kalaj, Ermira Hoxha; Kopliku, Bresena Dema

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-60978-8_3

Elvisa Drishti³,
Ermira Hoxha Kalaj³ &
Bresena Dema Kopliku⁴

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

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Abstract

This study examines the efficiency and distributional effects of selected labor market institutions in Albania, a rather underresearched country. An initial overview of the postcommunist developments articulates why Albania has the poorest labor market performance among other South East European countries. Using a set of mixed qualitative and descriptive quantitative methods we find evidence of inefficient segmental effects and a predatory structure of labor market institutions which noticeably diverge from the efficient institutions’ point of reference. The institutional/welfare regime at the cross-national level points out at a relationship between the labor market institutional framework and labor market performance, as measured by unemployment. At the country level, a disproportional relationship between the “de jure” labor market regulation and unemployment is identified, which is also moderated by the interaction between labor market and economic institutions.

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Notes

1.
All the figures were taken from this link: http://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/labour-market-and-education/employment-and-unemployment-from-lfs/#tab3
2.
Total registered population in Albania is 2.9 million, according to INSTAT.
3.
In retrospective, these figures were: 2012: 74.4% and 56.7; 2011: 76.1% and 60.3%; 2010: 72% and 52.8%; 2009: 73.3% and 51.8%; 2008: 72.1% and 52.8%, respectively for men and women.
4.
The work week had 6 days.
5.
In retrospective, these figures were: 2012: 15.2% and 12.0%; 2011: 13.8% and 14.1%; 2010: 12.8% and 15.9%; 2009: 12.2% and 15.9%; and 2008: 12.5% and 13.5%, respectively for men and women.
6.
Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
7.
In retrospective, these figures were: 2015: 32%; 2014: 32.5%; and 2013: 27.2%.
8.
https://ssl.kryeministria.al/SKZHI_FINAL_QBZ.pdf
9.
In retrospective, these figures were: 2016: 28.9% and 15.6%; 2015: 33.2% and 17.5%; and 2014: 32.5 and 17.9% for the 15–29 and 15–64 age segments respectively.
10.
The four strategic objectives of the above strategy are: (i) decent work opportunities through effective policies of the labor market; (ii) education and vocational training for youth and adults; (iii) social inclusion and regional cohesion; and (iv) analysis of labor market dynamics and sustainability of the performance evaluation system.
11.
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, all postcommunist countries.
12.
A major cause of the fierce opposition of France to open EU accession talks for Albania in October 2019.
13.
The author investigates these postcommunist countries: In Europe: Bulgaria and Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia, and in the Former Soviet Union: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
14.
Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia.
15.
Albanian-speaking country.
16.
Montenegro and North Macedonia include Albanian-speaking minorities.
17.
Year-on-year growth is high for developing countries in general as they start from a lower base.
18.
The average value added per worker is the ratio of an economy’s GNI per capita to the working-age population as a percentage of the total population.
19.
For illustrative purposes, in Graphs 6 and 7, countries where the lengths of single and sequential fixed-term contracts had no restrictions are given the maximum scores of the abscissa and ordinate axis.
20.
Labour market experience, tenure, training, or further education over the minimum level in the job description.
21.
Albania has no legal limits for the maximum duration of “fixed term contracts”.
22.
This is not the case for Albania as industrial relations and tripartite systems are quite fictive and corrupt.
23.
In 2015, this figure was 34.1%
http://www.instat.gov.al/media/1914/tregu-i-pun%C3%ABs-2016.pdf
24.
Workers would accept third shifts (from 12 p.m. to 07 ) and would steal from production lines or stocks to sell in the black market. Anecdotes in democracy for such practices would justify them as activities to “weaken/damage the communist regime” in charge.

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Faculty of Economy, University of Shkodra “Luigj Gurakuqi”, Shkodër, Albania
Elvisa Drishti & Ermira Hoxha Kalaj
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Shkodra “Luigj Gurakuqi”, Shkodër, Albania
Bresena Dema Kopliku

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Elvisa Drishti
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Ermira Hoxha Kalaj
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Correspondence to Elvisa Drishti .

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Cambridge, MA, USA
Nezameddin Faghih
Department of Economics, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Ali Hussein Samadi

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Drishti, E., Kalaj, E.H., Kopliku, B.D. (2021). Efficiency and Distributional Effects of the Two-Tracked Labor Market Institutions in Albania. In: Faghih, N., Samadi, A.H. (eds) Legal-Economic Institutions, Entrepreneurship, and Management . Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60978-8_3

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