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2025, for the first time the number of employees with high wages will exceed those with minimum wage

2026-04-06 07:42:00, Ekonomi CNA

2025, for the first time the number of employees with high wages will exceed

The labor market in Albania in the last quarter of 2025 continued to shift the workforce from low-wage categories to medium and high-wage ones.

This change began at the beginning of 2023, where about 38% of employees were positioned in the minimum wage range of up to 40,000 lek, while by the end of 2025, this category had almost halved in specific weight to 12.6 percent of total salaried employees.

This shift is mainly explained by the aggressive policy of increasing the legal minimum wage from 32 thousand lek in 2023 to 40 thousand lek in 2024, which has served as a floor that has pushed all other bands towards growth, forcing businesses to adjust their cost structure.

While a doubling of the share of high salaries of over 120,000 lek is seen. This salary category accounted for 7 percent of the total number of salaried employees at the beginning of 2023, while it reached over 16% at the end of 2025.

This doubling of the share of high salaries comes from the government's policy to increase salaries in the public sector during 2022-2024. Also, increased pressure in the market to retain talent, due to emigration, has forced employers to offer more competitive packages even for some professions that do not require many skills.

For the first time in the last quarter of 2025, the number of people paid high salaries, over 120 thousand lekë, exceeded the number of those receiving the minimum wage. Employees with salaries over 120 thousand lekë accounted for 16.2% of the total number of salaried employees, while employees with the minimum wage accounted for 12.8% of the total.

The largest number of salaried employees is in the 60,000 and 95,000 lek range, which accounts for a quarter of salaried employees. The sudden increase in the percentage of employees in the higher salary categories signals that many businesses have started to declare the real salaries of employees, avoiding the old practice of cash payments above the declared minimum wage. This trend was also driven by tax pressure that in recent years has focused on sectors with high wage informality, such as construction and accommodation.

Wage pressure on businesses is increasing due to a shortage of skilled labor. The increase in the minimum wage to 50,000 lek this year from 40,000 last year is expected to push up all wage categories.

Businesses that rely on the minimum wage will either have to automate their processes or close down, as the minimum wage workforce is rapidly shrinking and shifting to the 50,000-lek range./ Monitor Magazine